Carol Nolan on backlog of tree-felling licences and risk to jobs

Goera maith agat, Cahirleach, I'm delighted to get the opportunity to raise this urgent matter this evening. Following many phone calls and contacts over this issue, which is of serious concern, I wish to raise it with the Minister that many farmers, contractors as well as sawmills are very, very concerned over the ongoing delays to the tree felling applications. The capacity to fell trees, if and when it is necessary, is vital to farmers being able to maximise productivity and land use. And there is currently, as I say, serious concerns among farmers and forestry contractors and many landowners over the unacceptable delays in getting these tree felling licences. The people affected, many of them, have long-term investments and are frustrated by the ongoing delays and they can't plan going forward also because of the uncertainty. Minister, as you know, I'm conscious of the fact that the Midlands region has already been badly hit with recent announcements of job losses in Bordnamona. And next year, this time next year, we'll see almost 2,000 jobs being lost. So that's why I'm calling on you as Minister to act swiftly to ensure that this matter is brought to a head. Because we can't be hit again by the loss of jobs in sawmills. Because obviously the farmers supplying the raw materials to the sawmills and there is uncertainty there. They don't know if they're going to be able to keep the same number of workers on with the current delays. So I would just ask you to ensure that that is taken care of as soon as possible. Because, as I say, the Midlands region in particular would be hit again, as well as many sawmills all over the state. I just want to ask you, Minister, if you will endeavour to ensure that the backlog concerning the tree felling licences is urgently cleared. And I would also ask if it's possible to get a rough time frame for when the backlog will be cleared and how many we're dealing with in a backlog. I understand that some of the delays caused in relation to these licences have been due to serial objectors. And there needs to be change in regard to legislation in dealing with this matter. Because we can't have a situation where serial objectors are lodging objections. And it's negatively impacting upon farmers' decisions, upon contractors who have huge investments and sawmills. And obviously on the local economies in rural communities. There needs to be some mechanism to deal with that. Because we can't jeopardise employment in rural counties. Minister, I do understand that there was some engagement last week between the stakeholders and the department. And I would just like to know, what was the outcome of that? I also understand that Minister Doyle commissioned a review on this very matter. And I would like to know, you know, is there a plan drawn up now? Or has there been any outcomes in relation to that review? And also, just a plan going forward. And as I would just appeal to you again, just to please make sure that every action possible is taken to clear this backlog. Because it will have a detrimental effect on rural communities and on the rural economy. Thank you very much. I'd like to thank Deputy Nolan for raising the issue of forestry licences in particular. And for her general support for the forestry sector. And I am obviously aware of the current delays being incurred by applicants for licences. And I would like to give some background to these issues. All forestry licences issued by my department are subject to public notification and consultation and possible third party appeal. As the planning body for forestry applications, we have an obligation to ensure that all licences are issued in accordance with relevant environmental legislation. The relevant legislation is continuously subject to change as a result of case law interpretation. And so our procedures must change in tandem. Furthermore, decisions are subject to appeal to the Independent Forestry Appeals Committee. Some of the submitted appeals have been won by appellants. Through challenging the department's procedures. These cases have required the department to change procedures involved in assessing forestry licence applications. The appeals are connected to our appropriate assessment procedure. The Habitats Directive, Article 6.3, requires that where a plan or project is likely to have a significant effect on a Natura site, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, it must undergo an appropriate assessment of its implications for the Natura site. The Forestry Inspectorate have been implementing an appropriate assessment procedure established in 2013. However, as the Forestry Appeals Committee has identified issues with the procedure and as recent European case law is interpreted within Irish courts, changes to the procedure have been made. My department has taken a number of steps to help deal with these changes, including engaging the services of external environmental consultants to assist with the necessary revision of the appropriate assessment and the delivery of training for forestry inspectors. We are also currently recruiting additional ecologists to join our forestry inspectorate. A major triage operation is also ongoing to categorise the large number of files currently on hand for consideration by the in-house ecology team. The purpose of this process is to categorise files for further action and to advance each to the appropriate assessment determination stage using external ecological consultants. Forestry licences continue to be issued, albeit at a slower rate than would be expected. However, it has been a good year overall for felling licences and to the end of November, my department has issued just over 4,000 tree felling licences, which is still higher than any previous year and is 10% higher than the total for all of last year. This week, for instance, we will issue around 100 felling licences. The Forestry Appeals Committee is an independent body, but I understand that they are now starting to hear appeals on cases on my department's new procedures. We keep the resources of the Forestry Appeals Committee under review in the event that additional resources are needed. Let me say in conclusion that I am fully aware that this situation is causing difficulties, especially for landowners and forestry contractors. I do appreciate the supply chain in terms of licensing generally, whether it is for afforestation, whether it is for forestry roads, whether it is for thinning licences or for clearfell. It has implications all along the supply chain. I wish to assure the House that departmental officials are actively working towards alleviating the current temporary disruption. I believe the robust and workable system now being put in place will result in an improved licensing system of benefit to all stakeholders. I believe that this whole process in relation to the appropriate assessment procedure sounds extremely bureaucratic in nature and a long-drawn-out process. I am just wondering, can anything be done there, any sort of an intervention, to try and minimise that or shorten it? It has been brought to my attention that in other jurisdictions such as the North, they have a different system and that they do not have as long of a waiting period either. To the best of my knowledge, it is the department that makes the decision. But is there any way that this whole process could be looked at? I would just like to also ask you, what would be the time frame approximately for clearing that backlog? Again, I would stress that it is urgent and I would hope that you will take appropriate interventions to try and deal with the matter. Thank you, Deputy Nolan. I have personally been involved in a number of meetings in the department with various stakeholders and indeed with department officials. And I would acknowledge as well my colleague, Minister Doyle, who has lead in this forestry sector, is daily involved in trying to bring together all of the treads of a resolution to this issue. It is a complicated matter. It is further complicated by case law, which has meant effectively that we have had to rebuild our licensing system to take account of the challenges that have been successfully taken either at a forestry appeals level or indeed in the courts, domestic and European. So there are domestic court rulings, there are ECJ rulings, there are forestry appeal results that we have had to take into consideration in order to rebuild a licensing system that we believe now is sufficiently robust. Now, the ultimate determination of that will be in the current consideration by the Forestry Appeals Committee of the new licenses that have been issued under the new regime. And we do expect imminently results from that. But as I said, it is a complex area. I wish there were a simple solution to it. Regrettably, complex issues sometimes require complex solutions. It involves appropriate assessments. It is a somewhat similar system, in fact, to the system that the Department has some experience in with regard to aquaculture licensing. It is the same principle around appropriate assessments, natura sites, etc. So we have some experience in this area. It is complicated. We are recruiting additional staff in the ecological services area to assist with the processing of those licenses. But should we get, and I appreciate the independence of the Forestry Appeals Committee, should we get successful outcomes imminently from the consideration of current licenses, then I think we have a clear pathway to a resolution and confidence that the system that we have rebuilt is sufficiently robust. And then it is a question of getting as many through the Forestry Appeals Committee's appeals procedure as possible. It is an issue that we are acutely aware of, which we have engaged with all of the stakeholders along the supply chain on. And obviously we have targets in terms of afforestation, in terms of climate change, etc. So we want to deal with it from afforestation, from road building, from thinning and from clear fill, because there are a lot of people employed, private contractors, people working in sawmills. It is a really important industry in rural Ireland, and we are doing everything to resolve the issue, and I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. Thank you, Minister.