Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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316. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts that are being made to streamline forestry regulations in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35050/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Project Woodland was established by Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector, over a year ago to improve the forestry licensing system and deal with the backlog, and to drive forward the planting of trees under a shared vision for forestry in Ireland.

As part of the work undertaken, a legal and regulatory review of forestry licensing has been carried out by Philip Lee Consultants and, following extensive stakeholder engagement, their Report was published on 29th June, 2022. 

In accordance with the Terms of Reference, they have reviewed and critically analysed the existing EU and domestic legal framework for the licensing of forestry activities, including relevant case law. In addition, the Report focuses on practical and implementable options for streamlining processes and procedures, having regard to arrangements in other European countries, and the constraints imposed under EU law as interpreted by the Courts.

The Department has been tasked by the Project Board of Project Woodland to develop  and submit an action plan for the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Report and this work is already underway.

In the meantime, I have substantially increased the resources available to processes forestry licences, and processes are being streamlined. This has resulted in an increase of 56% in the number of licences issued in 2021 compared to the previous year, albeit 2020 was a challenging year for licences.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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317. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on Project Woodland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35051/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Project Woodland was established as a collaborative mechanism to engage stakeholders in developing a new vision for the forestry sector and improving the licensing system. Significant progress has been made.

All recommendations are actively in progress, with some completed. I will take this opportunity to summarise progress on specific items.

An end-to-end review of the licensing process has been completed and recommendations arising from that review have moved to the  implementation stage.

A legal and regulatory review of forestry licensing has been carried out and following extensive stakeholder engagement was published on 29th June, 2022. The Department has been tasked by the Project Board to develop and submit an implementation plan to progress the recommendations in the report and this work has already commenced.

The consultation on the new Forestry Strategy is under way, with a public attitudes survey and a community engagement survey already completed while bilateral engagement with key stakeholders is nearing completion following widespread engagement. 

Over 3,000 submissions have been received on an online public consultation on the future of forests in Ireland, which closed for submissions on 27th  April.  These submissions are being  examined in detail  and will feed in to the formation of the new Forestry Strategy and Programme which are due for completion by the end of 2022.

A deliberative dialogue on our forests took place on 10th and 14th May, similar in format to the citizens assembly, consisting of 99 citizens representing the general demographic of our population and again, output from this event will feed into the new Strategy and Programme.

Through various initiatives of Project Woodland and increased efficiencies and staffing within my Department, the forestry licensing backlog has been reduced by 50%, from over 6,000 at the start of the Project to approximately 3000 licence applications currently. 

Pre-application discussions on afforestation licence applications, to provide advice and guidance to applicants will be rolled out nation-wide, following the completion of a pilot exercise across six regions. Payment of an environmental grant to  cover additional costs associated with Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Directive will commence shortly  and will form part of establishment grants paid for afforestation in 2022. 

Work has begun on a training needs analysis for forestry licensing and a report is expected in August, 2022. An organisational review of the Department’s Forestry divisions will also be undertaken and is currently out to tender. A communications strategy for forestry will shortly be completed and a Forestry Customer Charter and the question of a review of the role of COFORD will be revisited towards  the end of the year. 

A great deal has already been achieved under Project Woodland and it is delivering on its remit to improve the licensing system and to develop a new vision for woodland creation in Ireland. Work will continue throughout the year on those elements which remain to be completed and at that stage all elements of the project will transition to an implementation phase.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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318. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts that are being made to provide greater clarity to forestry licence applicants with regard to the evaluation and application processes, specifically among small and medium operations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35052/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine gives detailed guidance on how to apply for licences to plant trees, build road and carry out felling and this guidance is clearly laid out on the forestry page of the Department's website. 

 In addition forestry related circulars are issued to the forestry sector on a regular basis throughout the year to clarify or amend Department policy, and these are published on the website.

Department staff also provide online and in-person webinars and training courses to registered foresters on an ongoing basis including recent courses in ecology, biodiversity and habitat mapping and Continuous Cover Forestry.

Furthermore, under Project Woodland, an initiative of my colleague Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has responsibility for the sector,  there has been a focus on improving the licensing system.  A pilot scheme for pre-application discussions on afforestation licence applications has been completed across six regions and it is now planned to roll this out nation-wide. 

Work has also commenced on a training needs analysis for forestry licensing and a report is expected in August. This work will consist of a review of the current training being provided, identify any gaps and will make recommendations aimed at improving the quality of licence applications.

We also intend to provide access to forestry licence applicants to the status of their application, within the licensing system. This facility is already available to registered foresters who submit forestry applications on behalf of clients.