Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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519. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of tree felling licences that have been issued within five to six months of receipt by the Forest Service of his Department on a quarterly basis, for both private and Coillte licences separately, in the past two years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22425/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In the last two years, 48% of all felling licences issued to private forest owners and 52% to Coillte. In 2022, this figure was closer with 1,686 felling licences issuing to Coillte and 1,607 issuing to private landowners.

The Department has delivered considerable reductions in the backlog of all forestry licences as well as reductions in the time taken to process newer files and last year we had another significant year-on-year increase in the number of licences issued. We issued 4,713 licences which was 1,100 more than applications received. In August 2021 we had 6,100 licences on hand for processing and this figure has now dropped to under 2,500. This number continues to drop every week.

The Department continues to issue and accept felling licence applications and has to 12th May this year issued 1,136 felling licences since January 1st. In 2022, we issued 817 more felling licences than felling applications received. Furthermore, last year we issued record levels of felling licences at 3,293 for 9.6 million cubic metres of wood, or 46,027 Hectares. These licences have up to 10 year timelines and are being used by forest owners providing work for forestry contractors and supplying sawmills.

Along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett who has overall responsibility for the sector, we remain fully committed to delivering a licensing system which will meets the needs of the sector and of society.

Licences issued to Private and Coillte from Q1 2021 to Q1 2023.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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520. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will publish the forestry programme proposal that was recently submitted to the European Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22426/23]

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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521. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he expects the forestry programme 2023-2027 to commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22427/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 520 and 521 together.

The new and ambitious €1.3bn Forestry Programme 2023-2027 will replace the previous Forestry Programme of 2014-2020 (extended to 2022) which expired at the end of 2022.

The Forestry Programme 2023 - 2027 is subject to State Aid approval from the EU Commission and is also subject to an ongoing Strategic Environmental Assessment/Appropriate Assessment (SEA/AA) process, which is a critical step in the process of securing State Aid approval.

We have been engaging proactively and intensively with the Commission over the last few months. Once EU Commission approval has been received, we will be in a position to launch the new Programme, subject to finalisation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment. On completion of this State Aid process, the decision letter and appropriate documentation will be published by the Commission on their website within the State Aid register.

Not all schemes under the Programme require state aid approval under the Guidelines and on 24th April, under the Agricultural Block Exemption Regulation, my Department opened two schemes for applications, the Forest Roads Scheme and the Innovative Forest Technology Scheme – Module 2 Investment Aid for the Development of the Forest Tree Nursery Sector.

In recognition of the need for planting activity to continue, and pending the launch of the new Programme, my Department engaged with the Commission last December to secure an interim solution which has led to the introduction of an Interim Afforestation Scheme (Via General De Minimis), an Interim Forest Road Scheme (via General De Minimis) and an interim Ash Dieback Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme. This ensured that those with valid licence approvals issued before the end of 2022, could avail of the current planting season under the higher grant and premium rates proposed to be paid under the new Programme.

As you may be aware, there are 797 approved afforestation licences with 5,819 ha ready for planting and to date over 1,638ha hectares have been approved for planting under the Interim De Minimis scheme. In addition 34,332 m have been approved under the interim Forest Road Scheme, while 69 Ha has been approved under the interim RUS scheme.

Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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522. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of species in the forest cover of approximately 11-12%. [22428/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The national forest estate now stands at 11.6% of the total land area, with a wide variety of forest types present. Nationally, conifer species are the dominant species present, representing 69% of the forest area while broadleaved species accounted for 31%.

The share of broadleaf species nationally increased by 5.9% between 2006 and 2022. Sitka spruce is the most common species, occupying 44.6% of the total forest area. The results from the recent National Forest Inventory is available on my Department's website and contains a range of information on the forest estate.

The composition of the total forest area in 2022 is presented in the table below.