Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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917. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average length of time it took to process the Coillte felling licences issued by his Department since 1 January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17745/22]

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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918. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average length of time it took to process the private felling licences issued by his Department since 1 January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17746/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 917 and 918 together.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine publishes extensive information on forestry licence and other forestry-related statistics on its website, including the weekly Forestry Dashboard available here gov.ie - Forest Statistics and Mapping (www.gov.ie).

The Forestry Licensing Plan for 2022 envisages a 36% increase in private tree felling licences at 1,830 while Coillte output will remain at the same level as 2021 at 1,530. It is worth noting that Coillte supply 75% of product to the sawmills.

The average length of time for Coillte felling licences to be issued during January, February and March 2022 is 11 months and for Private felling is 18 Months. The DAFM licensing plan commits to remove all (private) felling licences predating 2021 by end of the second quarter, as well as reducing the turnaround time for (private) license applications, this is being achieved through reassigning staff who have been working on Coillte felling files to processing private felling licence files, along with the recent recruitment of additional ecologist resources.

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 Licencing Plan. This will have the effect of reducing the backlog and the time taken

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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919. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the percentage of Coillte felling licences issued out of the total number felling licences issued since 1 January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17747/22]

Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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928. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason that his Department is consistently processing more Coillte felling licences than private sector felling licences each week since 1 January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17808/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 919 and 928 together.

Along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector, it is my aim to deliver a licensing system which meets the needs of all those who apply for forestry licences.

This is regardless of whether that application comes from a private individual who wishes to plant trees, a forest owner who wishes to fell their crop, or Coillte who wishes to supply sawmills with product from their estate. Each licence has a value particularly to the rural economy where the timber is harvested, transported and processed.

Since the commencement of 2022 up until the 25 March, 2022 my Department has issued a total number of 867 felling licences of those 59% were Coillte licences. We are 85% on target for private felling licences at this stage of the year, and we are fully committed to delivering the full 1,830 private licences by year end as outlined in the Licensing Plan.

The Department 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

Our plans for licence issue in 2022 are contained in the Forestry Licensing Plan with a target of 5,250 licences issues, which is a year-on-year increase of 30%. This includes an increase of 36% in private felling licences to 1,830, 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).

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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920. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the most recent forecasts by an organisation (details supplied) made for the private sector for 2021, 2022 and 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17748/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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COFORD, an advisory body to my Department, provide a series of round wood production forecasts which are updated approximately every five years. The most recent forecast predicts that the annual potential roundwood supply, will increase from around 4.7 million in 2021 to 7.9 million cubic metres by 2035 on the Island of Ireland, which includes Northern Ireland.

The forecast is available on the COFORD website www.coford.ie and provides a range of information on the potential of the national forest estate to produce timber for the time series 2021 to 2040.

I have included below an extract of the relevant figures for Ireland for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023.