Ireland Inc is out of sync with other countries on forestry
The Department confirmed that it is looking at the way in which EU countries are managing their forestry situation. Picture: Denis Minihane.
1,236 forestry licences have been issued so far this year up to and including the end of May.
This represents a 15% increase on the same period last year.
Felling volume licences were 32% higher than the same period last year; the area licence for afforestation is 26% higher; and road length licences are 117% higher.
This is what Colm Hayes, Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, told a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine which discussed the ongoing issues in the forestry industry including licencing difficulties.
Mr Hayes also highlighted how the target this year is to issue 4,500 licences, which he admitted was an “ambitious target” and would mark a 75% increase on the same period last year.
By the end of the first week of June, the department anticipated it will have reached just under 30% of this target.
At least 100 licences per week will have to be issued up to the end of this year to achieve that target and last week 101 new licences were issued.
There are 6,119 licences in the system - inflated by Coillte’s submission of 1,842 new felling licence applications back in March.
1,860 private applications are currently on the ecology list for afforestation, road and felling.
Chairman Jackie Cahill said that making comparisons with 2020 should be avoided.
“2020 was a disastrous year for the forestry sector and to be giving us percentage improvement on 2020 just isn’t acceptable,” he added.
“We had hoped the situation would improve but unfortunately it hasn’t.
“Farmers considering planting trees have walked away in despair and with a complete lack of confidence in the industry.
“Some felling licences are in the system for two and three years. Climate change and the issues that we face are a huge issue for the agri-food sector.
“Our failure to meet targets cannot continue - we are now 15,360 hectares shy of our planting targets.
“It is criminal that these targets are being missed and is having a compounding effect on both the industry and on rural Ireland.
“In the four weeks up to May 14, there was an average of 43 licences issued; mills have had to import timber, forestry contractors are going bankrupt.”
Senator Tim Lombard then pointed out that if the figures were to be compared with 2019, Ireland has only reached 30% of where it was then.
“With regard to the issuing of the 4,500 licences we need to know if that is going to meet the needs of the industry? I don’t think they will because that is the bare minimum,” he continued.
“House prices are going to go through the roof with the lack of sustainable commodities like timber that we are actually growing in huge amounts in Ireland but can’t actually harvest.
“That is going to be a real issue for all of us as a society and in the last few weeks comparisons have been made between Ireland’s licencing approach and that of other EU countries.
“These countries have a totally different regime and a totally different interpretation of the 15km rule and this is a very significant issue.
“How can you have a scenario where we are all part of the EU and yet there is a huge difference when it comes to afforestation, planting and in the way that we manage our woodlands.
“There is a lack of joined-up thinking with regard to what Ireland Inc is doing and what other EU countries are doing.
“Is it the case that we in Ireland need to start fresh with a completely new policy with a complete new legislator?
“We only have 2,500 hectares planted this year out of a target of 8,000ha - so we are a lifetime away from achieving our target and future generations are not going to thank us for this.
“There is a responsibility on all of us to raise the bar here and ensure that those targets are reached.
Seamus Dunne Chief Forestry Inspector then provided some background information ton he the 15km zone of influence in terms of appropriate assessment.
He said it was based on EU legislation and while the legislation itself does not lay down a distance, it does indicate that any project may interfere with any European site.
“The advice we received was that it is not defendable to have a distance of 3km and not consider European sites outside the 3km so we went to 15km,” he continued.
“There has been a lot of attention on the 15km but not on the other changes that have led to sites being screened in for appropriate assessment.”
Mr Hayes, meanwhile, accepted that the afforestation target is crucial and that afforestation “must be part of the climate solution”.
“This is going to require landowners to engage in a way that they haven’t done so up to now,” he added.
“One thing we have seen from the current forestry programme is that farmers have disengaged from afforestation; we need to understand that better because we are at a crucial stage now as we begin designing the next forestry programme.
“I know that licencing issues is one of the factors; there has to be more scope; and there is a plan in the Programme for Government for better integration between the next CAP and the Forestry Programme.
“In the early months of 2019 licences were issued to Coillte in large batches for thinning and those licences are consequently out of sync with the other months of that year.”
The Department also confirmed that it is currently looking at the way in which other EU countries are managing the situation.
