Ministers Must Act On IFA Emergency Measures for Forestry

IFA President Tim Cullinan said that Minister McConalogue and Minister of State Hackett must act on the six emergency measures put forward by IFA. These would allow farmers to manage their forests and ensure the survival of our indigenous timber industry.

At a meeting yesterday with Ministers McConalogue and Hackett, IFA pointed out that there are nearly 2,000 licences caught up in the Department. Despite the additional resources that have been allocated, the backlog will not be cleared for two years.

““The target for processing licences in both the legislation and the Charter of Farmers’ Rights is four months. These delays are a scandalous treatment of farmers and will be the death knell for our timber industry and our forestry planting programme” he said.

He stressed IFA’s willingness to work with the Ministers, but said that the length of the timeframe proposed to deal with the crisis was unacceptable.

“I have asked the Ministers to go to the EU Commission to seek an amnesty, an emergency provision, due to the scale of the crisis and the risk to the future of the forest sector.  These are exceptional circumstances and demand exceptional actions,” he said.

IFA Farm Forestry Chairman Vincent Nally said that the system is not working for farmers. The costs and red tape associated with planting and managing a forest is a disincentive to planting and actively discourages management.

“The system needs to be streamlined through the amendment of the Forestry Act 2014 to remove the requirement of a licence for a forest roads and thinning operations. The submission of a management plan that describes how the forest will be sustainably managed over a ten to twenty-year period, should replace the licence requirement,” he said.

Mr. Cullinan said that he welcomed the proposal by the Ministers to meet again in three weeks to progress action on forestry licences.

“There is no doubt that the system needs to be reformed, and without this reform, I could not encourage farmers to plant.”