It has been announced today that Bart Brady will become the new chairperson of the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC).

The news was confirmed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed; Brady is a former assistant secretary general of the Department of Agriculture.

The FAC was established – under the Agriculture Appeals Act, 2001, as amended – to hear appeals against decisions on forestry licences; it is independent of the department and is based in the Agriculture Appeals Office in Portlaoise, Co. Laois.

It is understood that other members of the committee will be drawn from officers of the existing Agriculture Appeals Office.

Commenting on the appointment, Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture, Andrew Doyle, said: “I very much welcome the appointment of Bart Brady as chairman and the news that the Forestry Appeals Committee is about to commence its work.

I understand that the number of appeals received to date under the new system is very low relative to the volume of licence decisions issued by my department.

“The commencement of work by the committee will now facilitate those appeals and be available should any appeals be made on future licensing decisions.”

The FAC is available as an appeals body to applicants or third parties who are dissatisfied with decisions made by the department on applications for licences for afforestation, tree felling, forest road works and aerial fertilisation.

The appeals process will now be completely independent of the department; but, it is believed that the committee will be commencing its work shortly and processing existing appeals in the coming weeks.