The government has been accused of circulating an inaccurate narrative around the forestry-licence backlog by members of the Irish Forest Owners (IFO).
The group has reacted angrily to recent statements made by government spokespeople who have implied that the licence backlog has been solved and who are “blaming all the problems within the sector on EU environment legislation”, according to the group.
The group is calling on government to “cease its current policy of spinning the situation as if it was on the verge of resolution and instead, take genuine action to make the changes in policy that are so urgently required and to properly engage with landowners and farmers”.
In a statement, chair of IFO, Nicholas Sweetman said:
“It seems that because the supply of timber to the sawmills has improved recently, as a result of unfair priority being given to larger suppliers, false claims regarding the forestry crisis are being made.”
But, he continued, the facts do not support the narrative.
Explaining, he pointed out that figures published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in early December 2021 showed that the number of licences applied for in 2021 exceeded the number issued by 909.
“In other words, the number of licences in the system awaiting decision increased by a substantial margin in 2021.”
Pointing to the 1,200 licence applications that were in the system for more than a year in December 2021 – many for more than two or three years – he said it did not indicate that resolution of the licensing backlog is at hand.
“The European Union environmental directives concerning Environmental Impact Statements and Habitats have been around since the 1980s and 1990s, respectively, and are not the problem,” he said.
These have, in the past, been referred to as causing a slow-down in the application-processing system by the DAFM
But the IFO chair said that it is the “inability of our government to legislate and regulate sensibly and in a timely manner regarding those EU Directives” that is central to where the problem lies.
Forest owners lack confidence
The most important statistic indicating the health of the industry, he said, is the number of hectares afforested in 2021.
“This figure has dropped again to an even lower level than 2020, which was, in itself, the worst in 70 years.
“No amount of spin can hide the fact that no progress in restoring confidence among landowners and farmers is being made.”
“To add insult to injury, the forest budget for 2021 was, once again, underspent and funds allocated to support afforestation were returned to the exchequer. This occurred at a time when the costs of running the forest service as a percentage of the overall budget increased dramatically, he said.
Other issues such as the reinstatement of cuts to forest-premiums; the “woefully inadequate” ash-dieback compensation scheme; and a review of the premium duration for hardwood plantations and agroforestry must be addressed.
“But, most importantly, the voices of landowners and farmers, whom the state is depending on to plant trees, are not being listened to.”
“These and other issues causing the catastrophic fall in afforestation rates can and should be immediately addressed. The willingness to do so is simply not there at a political level.”