Goals being shifted on forestry backlog - Sherlock
Cork East TD and Labour Party spokesperson on Agriculture, Seán Sherlock has said that the Department of Agriculture is shifting the goalposts on forestry approvals by insisting a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) is required to prioritise tree felling applications.
“A NIS is a further cost to applicant, after the fact of submitting an application,” said Deputy Sherlock. “There are 1,890 applications still on file to be assessed. The Department is prioritising files where the applicant has provided a NIS. This still places further burdens on the applicant when the original application did not require such an extra cost.”
NIS APPLICANTS PRIORITISED
In response to a Parliamentary Question on the issue, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said: “The Deputy will be aware of the delays caused by changes to the licensing system which means that a significant number of cases now need ecological input to comply with environmental requirements. We are tackling these delays by means of a systematic project plan. We have invested heavily in resources including the recruitment of additional ecologists, forestry inspectorate and administrative staff, with extra resources to be added this year.
“There are currently 1,890 files referred to our ecology team. Most files referred to Ecology will likely require an Appropriate Assessment. Without a detailed examination of each file referred to ecology, it is difficult to give a precise number.
“Of these, 1,123 are for tree felling licences from private landowners. Where files require an Appropriate Assessment, the Department is required to carry out an Appropriate Assessment Determination (AAD). This can be done by the Department itself carrying out an Appropriate Assessment Report to inform the AAD or by the applicant providing a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) to inform the AAD. The Department prioritises files where the applicant has provided a NIS.
“When the NIS is received, it is assigned to an ecologist and is normally processed within two to three months of receipt. My Department has received a NIS from individual landowners for 120 tree felling applications since the establishment of the project to deal with the ecology backlog in July 2020, of which, 80 have been processed by the ecologists.
“There are currently 39 felling applications assigned to ecologists for which a NIS has been received and which are being processed,” the Minister said.
A table showing a county breakdown of the 39 applications assigned to ecologists, for which a NIS has been received, shows that Galway has the most assigned at 7; Limerick has 4, while Cork, Tipperary and Waterford have 2 apiece.
While a county breakdown of the 1,123 tree felling licences awaiting assessment by an ecologist, shows County Cork with the largest volume at 130, followed by County Tipperary on 111; County Limerick has 90 licences awaiting assessment; County Waterford has 35.