Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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636. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Forestry Service has official policies regarding forest inspections and forestry application referrals for private and Coillte applications in the interest of transparency, impartiality and public trust; if so, if he will provide the details of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44523/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine operates the same inspection and referral regime for Private and Coillte applicants as part of its system of consent for felling and road licences.

With regard to felling licences these inspections include site inspections which are carried out to ensure the details given on the application are verified on the ground. The inspection is also used to support the appropriate assessment screening process prior to licensing.

Pre-licence inspections involve checks to make sure that maps provided by the applicant are accurate and include all relevant aquatic zones and other water bodies and other relevant information. Forest road applications are also subject to a pre licence inspection regime and where a forest entrance is being constructed or materially widened there is a mandatory referral and consultation with the relevant Local Authority.

This process is independent of whether the applicant is Coillte or a private individual.

Post felling inspections are carried out to ensure that felling has been carried out in accordance with the conditions of the licence and replanting has taken place and the correct species has been planted and conditions of the licence have been met (e.g. ensuring that water protection measures are being implemented correctly including e.g.. installation of silt traps, set backs and exclusions zones in the case of water features.)

Referrals of felling and road applications are also carried out in the same way for Private and Coillte licences. Applications are sent to the same statutory referral bodies for both applicants. All applications, private and Coillte, are uploaded to the Forest Licence Viewer where they are available to the public, to send in submissions.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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637. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Forestry Service has an official policy or procedures for recording, investigation and so on in the interest of transparency, impartiality and public trust regarding complaints not appeals made about the Forestry Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44524/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to providing good customer service to all our customers and clients. The three Divisions of my Department involved in forestry are subject to the Department’s Customer Service Complaints Procedure, available under the Customer Service section on my Department’s website on www.gov.ie.

Complaints should initially be made to the Senior Officer in charge of the area to which the complaint relates. If a satisfactory response is not received, the matter can be referred to the Quality Service Unit who will have it fully and impartially investigated.

Should the complainant remains dissatisfied after the above steps have been taken, it is open to the complainant to contact the Office of the Ombudsman. The Office of the Ombudsman examines complaints from people who feel they have been unfairly treated by certain public bodies including government departments.

It is the goal of my Department at all times to manage complaints in a way that is fair, non-recriminatory, respectful and impartial.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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638. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason that new mapping requirements imposed on private felling applications and which are causing significant delays and additional costs were not equally applied to Coillte applications in the interest of transparency, impartiality and public trust; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44546/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Licence application requirements are the same for both Private and Coillte felling licences. Where a harvest plan is provided or sought by the Department they will describe the harvesting and reforestation operations that are planned onsite.

The Department's 'Standards for Felling and Reforestation' document set out the minimum standards regarding harvest and reforestation plans and maps, which include the clear identification of all aquatic zones, extraction routes, stacking areas and crossing points where necessary.

Harvest plans are important documents to assist the Department in carrying out an environmental assessment of the operations. In some cases where a very small number of trees are proposed to be felled a harvest plan may not required.

Both Private and Coillte licence applications are subject to the same process of referral to statutory bodies, archaeology assessment and screening for appropriate assessment. In these difference stages of the licence application process, supporting documents are uploaded onto the Department's Forest Licence Viewer.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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639. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason for the decision to reject 95% of the necessary costs for application for a project (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44548/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Native Woodland Conservation Scheme provides funding to landowners to assist in enhancing and protecting Ireland’s native woodlands. It supports the restoration of existing native woodlands and the conversion of existing non-native forests to native woodland.

A decision was made on this case to approve the funding of an ecology report in January 2022. Because of the nature of the woodland area it was deemed that no works were required at this time in the project area.

A request to review this case was received from the forester. The case was reviewed by a more senior Forestry Inspector and a review decision letter issued on 7th March 2022. This review confirmed the initial decision.