Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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218. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department issued 70 more licences to Coillte than to the private sector for February 2022; if this trend will continue in March 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15195/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine issued 2,877 felling licences last year which represented more than 8 million cubic metres of timber. This was the highest ever output licensed in volume terms in a single year.

Last year, Coillte received 53% of felling licences and the other 47% going to the private sector. Coillte currently supply around 75% of sawlog to sawmills.

This year, we have committed to increasing our output to 3,360 felling licences, broken down between 1,530 Coillte felling licences which will be the same as their 2021 figure and 1,830 private felling licences which will represent a 36% increase on 2021 and we intend to deliver on these commitments. All details are outlined in our Licensing Plan, found at www.gov.ie/en/publication/forestry-policy-and-strategy/#forestry-licensing-plan-2022.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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219. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of Coillte felling licences in the backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15196/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has, through Project Woodland, established a definition of the backlog, which is any licence application on hand for over 120 days.

As of 11th March 2022, there were 898 Coillte felling files with the Department more than 120 days.

Using this 120 days as the definition of the backlog, the backlog of applications has reduced by 29% since the end of August 2021, which is a significant reduction in the number of applications awaiting decision.

The Forestry Licensing Plan for 2022 contains a target of the issuing of 5,250 licences, which is a year-on-year increase of 30%.

2021 was a good year for felling licences with applications of more than 8 million cubic metres of timber volume licensed during the year. The licensing plan for 2022 has set a target of 1,830 private felling licences representing a year on year increase of 36%.

The plan sets a target of 1,530 Coillte felling licences which is the same as the number of Coillte felling licences issued in 2021.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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220. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of felling licences his Department must issue to the private sector each week from 1 March 2022 to 31 December 2022 in order to achieve his targets as set out in the recent licensing plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15197/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine published the Forestry Licensing Plan 2022, recently, which may be found here gov.ie - Forestry Licensing Plan 2022 (www.gov.ie). The targets for each of the licence types are included in the plan and there being 52 weeks in the year, the annual target in each case is divided by 52, to indicate the average weekly outputs. These, of course, are averages across the year and will fluctuate at times. The total target private felling licences for 2022 is 1,830 as indicated in the table below.

As the table below shows for week ending 11th March 2022, the total number of private felling licences to be issued year to date was 350 (based on the average weekly profile) while the number issued was 314.

Along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector, my priority is to deliver our 2022 licensing plan this year, which includes meeting our overall target of 1,830 private felling licences for the entire year.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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221. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of Coillte felling licences included in his Departments dashboard for the week ending 4 March 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15198/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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This data is published in a Forestry Dashboard weekly, which is available on my Department's website which can be found at www.gov.ie/en/publication/3b8b5-2022-forestry-weekly-dashboard/.

The Forestry Licensing Plan for this year contains a target of 5,250 licences issues, which is a year-on-year increase of 30% including:

- A higher priority for afforestation licences for 2022 with a 107% increase in output up to 1,040.

- A year-on-year increase of 48% of private felling, roads and afforestation files.

- Private felling licences at 1,830 represents a 36% increase on 2021, while Coillte felling licences at 1,530 will maintain the levels they achieved in 2021.

The Licensing Plan 2022 may be found here gov.ie - Forestry Licensing Plan 2022 (www.gov.ie).

Along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector, my priority this year is to deliver on the ambition outlined in the Plan and to issue 5,250 licences, and to reach the projected targets in each licence category, including private felling.