Written answers
Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Forestry Sector
Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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440. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if it is permitted to export stone from Borrow Pits, for which no licence or permit is required, out of the forest in which the pit is located, onto public roads to another, different forest in accordance with the licence/permit requirement exemption; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52049/23]
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department may permit the extraction of stone, gravel or sand from a borrow pit where such activity is ancillary to the construction of a forest road for which a licence under the Forestry Act 2014 and Forestry Regulations 2017 is being granted.
It is also a requirement of the application process for a Forest Road licence, as set out in Circular 9 of 2019, that any borrow pits within the landholding from which it is intended to source road construction materials are clearly marked on the Biodiversity Map accompanying the application and planned extractions from these pits (new or existing) are then subject to the same environmental assessment procedures as the road route itself.
Whether the extraction of stone, gravel or sand from a borrow pit other than in these circumstances or outside the landholding is or is not ‘exempted development’ under the planning code is a matter for the relevant planning authority.
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