Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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103. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of efforts to address the backlog in forestry licence issuance and meeting afforestation targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53239/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am very much pleased to advise that due to continued high output in forestry licencing this year, we have seen considerable reductions in the backlog of forestry licences.

The backlog has reduced from 6,000 in August 2021, to 3,700 in January of this year and now stands at 1,639. We are issuing more licences than applications received and this means that the backlog continues to drop, with faster turnaround times for new applicants.

At the start of the year, we published a Forestry Licensing Plan for 2022 which contained a target of 5,250 licences, a year on year increase of 30%.

To 21st October 2022, we have issued 3,914 licences which is 92% of our expected output at this point in the year and there are currently 953 approved afforestation licences with just under 7,000 hectares ready for planting.

These improved outputs have achieved through a commitment to continuous improvement, as well as through the implementation of measures recommended under Project Woodland.

Work is ongoing with the implementation of the 57 recommendations arising from a business process review carried out under Project Woodland, with 71% of the recommendations either complete or in progress.

This builds on earlier improvements to our processes. They have facilitated the preparation of Appropriate Assessment Reports by the Department, which removes this burden from applicants in most cases.

Furthermore, a pre-application discussion pilot has been completed and we now intend to deliver this at a national level, along with the new Forestry Programme. All of these measures are aimed at improving the quality of applications received and optimising the time of those assessing applications.

Furthermore, in tandem with reviewing processes, I have substantially increased the resources available to process forestry licences, and the positive impact of this can be seen in the increased number of licences issuing.

In addition, a legal and regulatory review of forestry licensing was carried out by Philip Lee Solicitors and, following extensive stakeholder engagement, their Report was published in June.

The Project Board for Project Woodland has responded to these recommendations and the Department will now finalise a plan for the implementation of the Report, with a certain number of actions already underway.

This improvement in licence output will remove one of the perceived barriers to planting. I am acutely aware of the afforestation target of 8,000 hectares per year set out in the Climate Action Plan and the fact that afforestation rates have been declining in recent years.

As the Deputy may know, the current Forestry Programme provides supports for afforestation including grants and premiums and covers the cost of establishing a forest. Despite strong support for landowners over a period of 15 years, we have not achieved the level of planting anticipated. We hope that a new Forestry Programme will re-engage landowners, farmers in particular, and realise the land-use change needed.

We are engaged in detailed discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to agree funding. We are also in contact with European Commission and are initiating the process for State Aid approval for the new Programme.

I intend to publish the financial supports for the new Programme at the earliest opportunity.

It is my intention to introduce a programme which will deliver for society, for landowners and for the forestry sector in Ireland. Its objective will be to expand the national forest estate on both private and public land. I hope to incentivise farmers in particular to re-engage with forestry and we hope to offer increases in grants and premiums to enable land-use change.

A comprehensive and well-subscribed forestry programme has the potential to deliver lasting benefits for climate change, biodiversity, wood production, economic development and quality of life.