Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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279. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of forestry licence applications predating 2021 that remain to be processed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47768/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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To date in 2022, there is an overall significant increase on all licensing categories compared with last year.  Up to 23rd September, 2022, 3,520 licences have issued as compared to the projected of 3,838 licences. In fact in the 12 month period to the end of August 2022 we have issued over 5,100 licences.

July, August and September have shown significant signs of improvement in afforestation licensing  and we intend to maintain this momentum. 

There are currently 516 licences remaining to be processed of the 1,683 licences predating 2021 that were on hand at the start of 2022. In many of these cases, further information was required from the applicant. We are embarking on an intensive effort over the next few weeks to prioritise clearing older files ahead of the new forestry programme.

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. 

The Department's forestry dashboard is available here: gov.ie/ga/bailiuchan/15b56-forest-statistics-and-mapping/

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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280. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there will be mandatory professional forester involvement in the small-scale tree planting scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47769/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, an amendment to the Forestry Act 2014 has passed through the Houses of the Oireachtas through the vehicle of the Animal Health and Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022. 

On 4^thApril 2022, the new legislation was signed into law by the president. This amendment was necessary to remove the licensing requirement for the planting of native woodland in areas not greater than one hectare. It is my objective to increase and encourage interest in small scale planting and I am confident that this change to the Act will remove a barrier to such planting. 

The exemption for the creation of up to one hectare of native woodland would be available through a scheme which my Department now intends to design and implement. The involvement of a professional forester is something that will be considered in the design phase. The development of the scheme will be undertaken following the completion of a Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment, subject to the findings of both assessments and be subject to a public consultation.