Written answers
Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Departmental Licences
Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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121. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on his Department's performance for Q1 versus its licensing plan for Q1 2024, per licence and scheme type; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15618/24]
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has published a Forestry Licensing Plan which outlines our strong commitment to issuing licences in 2024. We are working towards the priorities, outlined in the plan. We estimate that we will issue 4,200 new licences in 2024, and we believe we now have the capacity to issue sufficient licences to meet the annual target of 8,000 hectares of new forests.
This is however contingent on receiving enough applications to achieve this goal. It is also worth noting that there is 2,757ha in total, currently available for planting under Afforestation Schemes.
The Forestry Licensing Plan provides for annual targets for the issuing of licences, rather than quarterly ones. However, I have set out below the relevant statistics for Quarter 1.
| Licence Area | Estimate to be received in Q1 2024 | Received in Q1 | Difference | Projected to issue in Q1 2024 | Issued in Q1 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coillte Felling* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 325 | 212 | -113 |
| Private Felling | 250 | 239 | -11 | 313 | 284 | -29 |
| Roads | 150 | 204 | 54 | 163 | 253 | 90 |
| Afforestation | 250 | 183 | -67 | 250 | 123 | -127 |
| Total | 650 | 626 | -24 | 1,051 | 872 | -179 |
* Coillte felling applications are usually received in two batches, one in Quarter 2 and another in Quarter 4.
Other approvals under the Forestry Programme since it commenced: Approvals under the new Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme (RADs) are continuing, with 495 approvals issued representing 1,953 Ha’s. Under the Native Tree Area Scheme there have been 148 approvals processed to date, representing 155 Ha’s. Finally, there were 24 Woodland Improvement Scheme (WIS) approvals representing 141 Ha’s.
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