Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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659. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of afforestation and felling licences granted in the past twelve months; the details of those licenses granted to any public body such as Coillte or other; the number awarded to private land holders and farmers in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60012/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In the last twelve months, including December, 2020, 3,917 licences have been issued. The tables below show the information sought and also includes forestry road licences as these are also dealt with by my Department.

It may be of interest to the Deputy that the Department publishes a range of forestry licence statistics both on its website and weekly in the Forestry Dashboard.

There has been an increase in licences issued in recent months, with on average 116 licences per week issuing over the last 13 weeks to 26th November. As can be seen from the table this has reflected a greater output of felling licences with slower progress in issuing afforestation licences. Efficiencies that have been in place for some months for tree felling and forest road licence processing are now being applied to afforestation licences.

In addition, we now have 10 ecologists dedicated to afforestation and we intend to increase this number by reallocating resources and recruiting additional ecologists. As afforestation is a land-use change, it is essential that careful attention is paid to the likely affects forestry may have on the surrounding countryside and environment.

As recommended by Project Woodland, the Department has placed a contract for the regulatory review with report due by end February, 2022. It will review the existing statutory framework for the licensing of forestry activities in relation to environmental and public participation obligations, in order that practical advice can be provided to the Department on various options within the existing legal framework.

I would like to reiterate my commitment and that of Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector, in ensuring that we maintain and improve on our licence delivery for the benefit of the sector and for society as a whole.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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660. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the metric by which forest road licence applications are conjoined with or take account of felling or afforestation licenses pending given neither activity can be undertaken without a forest road licence to access the timber or the planting site; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60013/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Forest road application licences are not received in relation to afforestation. Typically existing farm tracks and entrances are used to provide access for machinery involved in site development for tree planting.

Thinning and felling operations typically require forest road licences in order to create access for the relevant machinery and also to enable wood mobilization.

Tree felling and forest road works licence applications are received daily by my Department and issued as the assessment of each application is completed. It may happen that an application for a tree felling licence, which may be submitted by a landowner, is received at a different time to an associated forest road licence, which must be submitted by a Registered Forester.

In addition to this, there is a different suite of documentation required to support each application. A forest road works licence application will contain technical information related to the construction of the road.

Proposed forest roads that open out onto a public road will also require extra documentation, as the health and safety of other road users must be considered, under the single consent forest road system.

Where both applications are submitted at the same they will be considered concurrently. I am pleased that forest road licencing is progressing very well this year and we are on track to more than double the targeted output of 125km set in the Climate Action Plan.