Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

172. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average number of afforestation licences targeted for issuance per week in 2022; and the average issued per week to date. [26964/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine issued 4,050 forestry licences last year, which was an increase of 56% on the number issued in 2020. It is my priority this year to increase the number of licences issued to 5,250 and in particular to focus on increasing the number of afforestation licences.

In this regard we intend to double the number of afforestation licences to 1,040. This means issuing on average around 20 afforestation licences per week is the target. Up to 20th May, we have issued 299 afforestation licences, which I acknowledge is below the projected average. It is, however, inevitable, in the context of the annual target figures, there will be fluctuations in licence output and across categories from week to week. In the week ending 20th May, we issued 18 afforestation licences and I am confident that we will reach our annual target. To this end we have recruited additional ecology resources and these 36 Full Time equivalents will begin to positively impact output.

In the interest of full transparency details of all licences issued by category are available on the weekly dashboard. This is published on the Departmental website and is made available to all interested parties as well as being submitted to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine each week.