Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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697. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of the backlog in forestry licences, that is, the number of licence applications in the system at the end of August 2021 that were classed as private as compared with those submitted in the name of Coillte (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53976/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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On 27 August (last Friday in August), the number of forestry licence applications on hand was 6,041, which was broken down between private applications (including Coillte roads) at 3,838 and Coillte tree felling at 2,203.

Not all these licences could be considered to be in backlog, as there is a public consultation process to be taken account of and time needed to assess properly all relevant environmental and other considerations associated with a forestry operation.

The proposal from Working Group 1 under Project Woodlands is to define the backlog as the number of files with my Department for over 120 days, which was 5,195 on 27th August last, broken down between 2,978 private applications and 2,217 Coillte files.

My Department has made progress since then and the total on hand is now (as of 29 October) 5,342, which is a net reduction of just under 700 since end-August. The number of files with my Department over 120 days is 4,555, broken down between 2,742 private applications and 1,813 Coillte files.