Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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747. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether European Union rules on afforestation are impacting Ireland’s ability to plant trees and meet its climate obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52923/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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All afforestation must undertaken in a legally compliant and sustainable manner.

Following a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling in 2018 and subsequent High Court rulings which had transformative implications for the process of screening forestry licence applications for likely environmental effects, approximately 75% of licence applications are now referred for ecological assessment. The referral of such a high proportion of licence applications was the principal cause of delays in the issuing of licences.

An independent expert review was commissioned by the Department to review Ireland’s forestry regulations and was undertaken by law firm Philip Lee LLP.

This report was necessary to assess the extent to which forestry in Ireland is being appropriately regulated, and also importantly whether any improvements can be made to the licensing system while working within the parameters of Irish and EU environmental law. The report outlines changes in environmental law which have resulted in the increasingly complex regulatory framework that has ultimately led to delays in the issuing of forest licenses in recent years.

The report is a valuable source of information and a reference document for everyone involved in forestry. It is comprehensive and was the subject of detailed stakeholder consultation with over 60 stakeholder meetings informing its final outcome. The Project Board which is leading on the implementation of Project Woodland have studied the recommendations and has published its own recommendations in relation to the review.

The Department is now finalising an Implementation Plan on foot of the Project Board recommendations which will be published in due course.

While the bar is indeed set high in terms of compliance with EU law I am not allowing this to be a barrier to achieving our afforestation target of 8,000 hectares per year as set out in the Climate Action Plan.

Over the last two years, the Department has recruited a large number of staff to assist with processing applications. In total this year, some 3,913 licences have issued and 2,788 have been receieved.

With respect to afforestation, the Department is processing licences at a much faster rate than they are being received. Some 336 applications were received in the year to date and 578 licences have issued year to date. Some 238 of these licences were issued in quarter three following the recruitment of additional ecologists to work exclusively on afforestation files.

In addition, a National Shared Vision for the future of Ireland's trees and forests was published recently and a new draft Forestry Strategyhas been developed, with consideration given to the EU Forest Strategy. The associated draft Forest Strategy Implementation Plan which includes the next Forestry Programme for the period 2023 – 2027 is currently undergoing a period of public consultation. This plan sets out how Ireland’s ambitions to expand its forests and to increase its role in helping address the climate and biodiversity objectives at both National and EU level can be realised.

Supports will be included in the next Forestry Programme to incentivise afforestation. I am committed to working with all our stakeholders to substantially increase our afforestation rates over the next decade in order to meet our climate obligations.