Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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770. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress that has been made on a felling licence for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12860/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to the three forestry licence applications, two for tree felling and one for a forest road works licence, submitted to my Department on behalf of the applicants.

An application for the first tree felling licence, reference ending in 21, was received in March, 2021.  An updated harvest map was received in January this year and considered as part of the application assessment.  The application is currently on hold as it is open for a mandatory second 30-day public consultation period. 

Once this has closed, on 7^thMarch, the assessment on the file will be completed.  Providing nothing further arises, either during the final assessment or following the public consultation, I would expect a decision to issue in approx. two months.

The file referenced CN, a forest road works licence application was received in April 2020.  This is a complex application, which is currently being reviewed.  I understand there is no clear right of way at the junction and exiting trucks will not have a clear line of sight.  This of course is a road safety consideration, which must be mitigated before any decision can issue.  My Department may be in touch shortly seeking further information, pending the outcome of the engineer’s review.

My Department is continuing to invest heavily in the grant aiding of private forest roads to ensure the investment in afforestation is realised and forests are harvested at the appropriate time and mobilised as part of the forest economy. 

My Department operates a forest road licensing system which involves a mandatory consultation with the Local Authorities.  There are agreed Technical standards in place to ensure that any road approved by my Department is safe to use.  In certain cases additional consultations and measures are required.  Despite this my Department issued 671 forest road licences last year and aims to licence 850 forest roads in 2022

The final tree felling licence, reference ending in 19, was received in July 2019.  An updated harvest map was received last August, and the application is awaiting assessment by an ecologist.  I have asked that the file is prioritised.