Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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785. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if statistical information in relation to felling licences will be provided for 2020 and to date in 2021 (details supplied). [61652/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is the consent authority for tree felling licences, which are a legal requirement before the felling of any tree or trees. In the years in question, my Department issued 1,717 (2020) and 2,711 tree felling licences. These are broken down by county and whether they are issued to Coillte Teo or private landowners in the tables below.

Tree felling licences issue with varying validity periods up to and including 10 years. After the expiration of the validity period, a landowner has two years in which to replant the felled site. Therefore, no reforestation inspections would be carried out on tree felling licences issued in 2020 and 2021 as they would be within the timeframe by which the replanting is required to take place. Information on ad hoc inspections is not compiled centrally and therefore not readily available, as they usually arise from complaints received by letter, email or by phone call. All such complaints are followed-up, with action taken as appropriate.

Every application for a forestry licence, including tree felling licences is assessed for its potential impact on the surrounding countryside and environment. This examination – Appropriate Assessment (AA) Procedures – is in the following stages AA screening, followed by stage 2 AA where required. Where following AA screening the potential impacts cannot be readily excluded, the application goes for stage 2 AA. The number of tree felling licence applications that progressed to stage 2 AA will be forwarded to the Deputy under separate cover.

Felling licences issued by count in 2020 and 2021 for both Coillte and Private landowners