Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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297. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline in tabular form the number of tree-falling licences issued from 1 January 2022 to 31 May 2022; the number issued during the same timeframe in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33299/23]

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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298. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline in tabular form the total number of kilometres of road licences issued from 1 January 2022 to 31 May 2022; the total number issued during the same timeframe in 2023, and to clarify why there has been a significant decrease in road licences issued in 2023 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33300/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 297 and 298 together.

As the Deputy may be aware, the new and ambitious €1.3bn Forestry Programme 2023-2027 will replace the previous Programme which expired at the end of 2022.

The new Programme is subject to State Aid rules and to an ongoing Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment process, which is well advanced.

A revisedAgricultural Block Exemption Regulation (ABER), which was expanded favourably in relation to forestry, came into force from 01 January 2023. The Forest Road scheme met the conditions to be block exempted and was notified to the Commission under the ABER. The scheme was deemed acceptable to proceed under the State Aid Framework. Subsequently, the Forest Road Scheme launched on 24/04/2023 and my Department has accepted applications since that date.

The scheme is subject to the ongoing Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA)/Appropriate Assessment (AA) process so no approvals will issue until the appropriate environmental processes have been concluded to allow for any possible changes to any terms and conditions. However, opening the scheme allows for forest road applications to be lodged and for progress to be made towards a decision.

In addition and in recognition of the need for forestry 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 included the opening of an Interim Forest Road Scheme . This has ensured that those with valid road licences at the end of 2022 can avail of the higher grant rates as proposed under the new Programme.

Meanwhile the issuing of felling licences by my Department is not affected by the engagement with the European Commission. Indeed, to date, 1,575 felling licences have issued from my Department, equating to 18,386 hectares. The volume of wood available from these licences amounts to 5,025,884m3.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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299. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the monthly targets for private licences with ecology input, excluding Coillte felling licences, were predominantly higher in series one in comparison to series two from January 2022 to January 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33301/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, the weekly Forestry Dashboard sets out a series of forestry statistics in the form of a series of charts and tables. The table in question shows the monthly target for processing files with ecology input, versus what actually issued that each month. Unfortunately, due to a technical issue when being updated, the legends on this table defaulted from the proper titles, "Target" and "Issued", to "Series 1" and "Series 2". This has since been rectified and the target of 220 licences with ecology input for January 2022 is the same as the target for January 2023.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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300. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine what impact the low level of afforestation licences issued for 2023 will have on Ireland's environmental and climate targets; if his Department plans to increase the number of afforestation licences issued for the remainder of the year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33302/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, the new and ambitious €1.3bn Forestry Programme 2023-2027 will replace the previous Programme which expired at the end of 2022. The new Programme will benefit farmers, rural communities and contribute to our overall climate and environmental targets.

The new Programme is subject to State Aid approval from the EU Commission. It is also subject to an ongoing Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment process, which is well advanced. The previous State Aid Guidelines in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas expired on 31 December 2022 and have now been replaced with a revised version as of 01 January 2023.

The introduction of these revised guidelines meant that a formal application for State Aid could not have been submitted to the European Commission until the revised guidelines were in place, i.e. before January 2023.

Once State Aid approval has been granted, the Strategic Environmental Assessment can then be finalised, after incorporating any relevant outcomes of this process.

It is important to note that that no new grant aided licence approvals can issue under these or any other schemes until the appropriate environmental processes have been concluded, however all grant aided licence applications currently in the system will continue to be progressed up to the point of approval so that they can transition into the new Programme as seamlessly as possible when it opens.

In recognition of the need for planting activity to continue during the State Aid assessment of the Forestry Programme, my Department engaged with the Commission last December to secure an interim solution. This led to the introduction of an Interim Afforestation Scheme, an Interim Forest Road Scheme and an interim Ash Dieback Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme (All via General De Minimis).

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 Forestry Programme.

Extensive work has been undertaken by the Department in this area and to date this year, a total of 288 applications have been approved under the interim Afforestation scheme (via general de minimis) representing 1,752 hectares. Under the interim roads scheme 119 approvals have issued representing 54,859 metres. While, under the interim RUS scheme 23 approvals have issued for 83.75 hectares.

Of the 1,752 hectares approved in 2023 for afforestation under the interim afforestation scheme, we have received indication that almost 1,195 hectares of planting has completed, and planting has commenced on a further area of 261 hectares.

In relation to the afforestation target of 8,000 hectares per year as set out in the Climate Action Plan, the new increased premium rates and extended period of 20 year payments to farmers will, I expect, engage landowners, farmers in particular, and realise the land-use change needed.

I would like to assure the Deputy, that the launch of the Forestry Programme 2023-2027 is a matter of the utmost priority. 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.