Forestry licensing delays
Deputy McGrath said forestry and tree-felling licensing delays are harming contractors, builders, hauliers, and timber supply. The Taoiseach disputed that the situation has worsened, citing a strong increase in licence approvals and improved output in late 2020 and January.
Last June, we debated at length in the House the issue of forestry and tree-felling licences. The situation has got worse. People cannot get forestry licences to sell their trees, whether from private forests or through the national afforestation programme. This has a significant knock-on effect on the building industry, the haulage industry, farm and forestry contractors and people who supply firewood. People cannot get timber for essential construction jobs and it has to be imported.
Will the Taoiseach please ensure there are enough staff in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to deal with the issue? Are serial objectors causing the problem? There is a serious problem. Small businesses are being wiped out, especially in this time of Covid, and jobs are being lost. Above all, people cannot get timber to roof their houses or to carry out other essential works. There is a huge logjam. The forestry Bill we passed last year, which I voted against, is not working. I do not know whether the logjam is due to a lack of staff or of ambition but it needs to be sorted out.
Comment on this
I have to disagree with the Deputy. It is not worse than it was. I do not know how he can say that because I am told the final three months of last year had the highest number of new licences issued of any months in 2020, with almost 900 new licences issued. Licences for a felling volume of some 2 million tonnes were issued in that time, which was 40% of the output for the year. This improvement continued strongly into January, which looks to have been the strongest month for licensing in 18 months. Coillte is the largest supplier of material to Irish sawmills. It has seen its 2021 licensing programme significantly improved and 80% of the programme has been licensed, with the final felling licences for the year to be processed in the coming weeks. It is working with the Department to close out any issues and to ensure availability of supply to market as quickly as possible. Staffing has increased within the Department to deal with all these issues.