Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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1301. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of planting, felling and road licences issued for forestry operations in each of the past five years; the volume of timber licensed for felling; the number of hectares licensed for planting; the number of jobs in the sector each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55308/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has issued the following licences for the years 2017 to 2022 (up to 4^thNovember):

I am very much pleased to advise that due to improved output in forestry licensing 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 1,606. We are issuing more licences than applications received, and this means that the backlog continues to drop over time, with faster turnaround times for new applicants. 

To date this year the Department of Agriculture have issued 4,057 licences, which is 1,160 higher than the applications received and there are there are currently over 960 licences for over 7,000 hectares of land approved and ready to plant. 

As of 4th November 2022, the volume of wood licensed to be felled is 8,140,101 m3, which significantly exceeds the COFORD forecast of just over 4 million m3. 

According to the most recent, COFORD report on economic activity on and employment levels in the forestry sector, direct employment, across the forestry & logging and manufacture of wood & wood products sectors, has been estimated as some 5,600 full-time equivalents. This is less than the previous estimate of 7,000 persons and is likely attributable to greater mechanisation across all forest operations, allied to improved logistics. The decline in afforestation rates over the past decade will also have had an impact, though somewhat balanced by an expanded level of reforestation planting, as crops come to maturity are felled and regenerated.

The report concluded that employment levels in the sector is likely to grow over the coming decade, particularly in skilled areas such as mechanised forest harvesting. In particular, the most recent COFORD roundwood forecast foresees an increase in production from 4.7 million cubic metres in 2021 to 7.9 million by 2035. Government policy also looks to the need to expand afforestation to at least 8,000 ha per annum to tackle climate change and the recently secured funding of €1.3 billion for the forestry sector will support such afforestation.  Such an expansion will have a significant and lasting impact on employment, not just in planting but in management, harvesting and wood processing down the line.