The forestry industry grinding towards a halt has been an unwanted home-grown problem for new Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, for whom the pandemic and huge changes in the EU’s agriculture policies are also formidable hurdles to overcome.
As the minister approached 80 days in office, he told the Irish Examiner in a wide-ranging interview that it’s a really challenging situation at the moment for the forestry sector.
Forestry planting is at only one-10th of what was being planted in the 1990s, just when trees are needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Sawmills now have to import timber.
The minister said that while a backlog in applications for licences to carry out forestry operations was a contributory factor to the difficulties that have emerged, he remains hopeful that the new Forestry Act 2020 signed into law last month will provide for procedures that will allow for better management of the volume of appeals in the system.
Fees are being introduced for forestry applications, submissions and appeals.
In addition, a forestry portal, with all application and site details available in a single website, will be opened, to ensure more visible and transparent access to the forestry licensing process.
“We introduced legislation four weeks ago to try and streamline the licencing process, and that will be a significant help.
“There is no doubt there is a backlog, but I do feel that is being addressed as a result of the new legislation that is now in place.
“It is a key focus of the department that the necessary resources are allocated, so that volume is restored, and the demands that are there can be met between now and the end of the year, and into next year.
“A very significant number of licenses have been issued over the last three weeks.
“The level of plantation in Ireland has been disappointing overall, but I am hoping that some of that can be attributed to the backlog in licencing,” he said.
“There is no doubt that we need to put a renewed effort into meeting our forestry targets, and to ensuring that the plantation numbers increase and improve.
“What has happened over the last year is not where we want to be.
“Importing timber is something that we want to avoid, if at all possible, and I think that when the streamlining of licences starts to show results, that will sort itself out.
“The forestry appeals committee has also been subdivided into four committees, and that has resulted in an increase in appeal hearings.
“What we want to see is licences being issued, so that the volume can start coming through from our own plantations.”
McConalogue landed in the agriculture top job after a political storm which had seen him the fourth person appointed agriculture minister in just over two months.
Barry Cowen was appointed minister on June 28 but was sacked by Taoiseach Micheál Martin after just 18 days, amid a drink-driving controversy.
The next appointed agriculture minister was Dara Calleary, but he resigned following his attendance at the controversial Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Galway.
Then Taoiseach Micheál Martin acted as agriculture minister in a temporary capacity, until McConalogue’s appointment on September 2.
At the time, the Taoiseach noted that the new minister faced urgent challenges in the post-Brexit trade situation, and reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
Mr McConalogue grew up on a farm in Co Donegal and has worked in the industry.
He said: “Dara Calleary would have made a very fine minister for agriculture had he been given the opportunity.
“I have been able to hit the ground running, it has been a challenging time, but it is a great privilege for me to have the opportunity to lead Irish agriculture,” he said.
“Everyone has pulled together exceptionally well and I think that the significant increases in the budget will help towards farm incomes next year.”
On Brexit, he said: “Certainly, from an agricultural point of view, a no-deal scenario would be very, very challenging, because there will be a default to WTO tariffs, and that will have big implications for our agri- exports to the UK.
“Of course, we want to avoid that, and we hope for a good trade deal as an outcome from the negotiations, it must be very reasonable to Ireland and the EU.
“Ideally, we want tariff and barrier free trade with Britain as well, but that will be dependent on a trade agreement,” he said.
“There is an implementation committee in place and it has met with the EU and the UK, in relation to the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“The objective is to protect our all-island food production sector and animal health and welfare. The protocol does provide for that.”
He said €3.5bn was put aside in the budget so that we could deal with a no-deal outcome, and there is a fund at EU level that we will be able to access as well.
The minister’s eventful term in office has now come up against yet another obstacle in the EU, with Hungary and Poland withholding political support for the EU’s €1.074tn seven-year budget, and the EU’s historic €1.82tn budget-and-recovery package.
The latest EU political stalemate could delay the long overdue CAP reform, and threatens €8bn from the EU Covid Recovery Fund which was to be frontloaded for agriculture spending in 2021 and 2022.
“This funding is very significant because it is very important to maintain the current level of the CAP budget,” said Mr McConalogue.
“It ensures that what was going to be a 5% cut to the budget was reversed, with a slight increase, it must be said, for the next seven years.
“It also means that from next year onwards, additional funding will be made available to member states for rural development through various schemes.
“This was very significant because it is very important in maintaining the current level of the CAP budget.”
However, these gains have now postponed by Hungary and Poland blocking the EU’s historic €1.82tn budget-and-recovery package, setting off what top EU officials and diplomats branded an institutional crisis with no evident path out of the stalemate.
It will be the top item on today’s agenda when EU heads of state and government meet via video-conference.
But senior officials warned that they did not expect a fast resolution.
Whenever the new CAP eventually arrives, member states will be obliged to demonstrate a higher environmental ambition compared to the current period.
This is in line with Europe’s transition to a sustainable food system as part of the Green Deal, which includes the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies.
Ireland is carrying out an impact assessment of the Farm to Fork proposals, which are designed to make food production more sustainable.
Mr McConalogue said: “Without a doubt, our national strategy will have to be consistent with that.
“As an initial step, the impact assessment will help to inform policy around all of that.”
