‘Fed up’: Martin Oakes in Balgeeth Woods, Co Meath, where he is prohibited from cutting his trees. On the right are oaks and on the left are nurse trees which need to be removed to allow the oaks to thrive.
Guidance: Martin Oakes with his two-year-old grandson Tadhg Conway
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‘Fed up’: Martin Oakes in Balgeeth Woods, Co Meath, where he is prohibited from cutting his trees. On the right are oaks and on the left are nurse trees which need to be removed to allow the oaks to thrive.
Claire Mc Cormack
Private forest owners can fast-track their way to the top of the forestry licence backlog if they are willing to fork out €1,500 for a Natura Impact Statement (NIS), it has emerged.
The North East Forestry Group (NEFG), representing 90 private forest owners in Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan, has been made aware that the Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Service is urging those whose applications are jammed in the system, to submit an NIS — at their own expense — to “speed up” approvals for thinning and felling.
It comes five months after the Department hired 20 new ecologists to carry out such NIS assessments, yet just 20-25 licences are being issued per week, the latest data suggests.
Furthermore, a new IFA survey found that Ireland is “the only EU country where private forest owners are required to apply for a felling licence” — most countries, it says, have “a permit system” where a permit is guaranteed “within a set timeframe”.
NEFG member Martin Oakes (pictured) has been waiting over two years for a felling licence to thin his award-winning 33.5ac oak plantation in Kilmessan, Co Meath.
“Fed-up with red-tape and stumbling blocks” preventing him from progressing, Mr Oakes’s frustration hit a new high last month when the Department advised him that a self-funded NIS would accelerate the process.
“I planted my first 15ac in 1999 and the remaining in 2001. It’s an oak plantation with large, diverse conifers and beech trees as a nursing crop. The first pruning and felling was in 2008,” he said.
“I was selected for a Department pilot programme to certify woodland to reassure customers that the products they bought came from suitably managed forests that complied with all rules and regulations.
“We were presented with certificates in 2017. A management plan was drawn up where I had to start thinning; and I was selected for the Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) pilot scheme so I needed to do felling too.
“I applied for a licence in April 2019 and I’m still waiting for white smoke — somebody needs to crack the whip.
“I sent emails last year but the Department response was ‘it’s with the ecologist’. The first CCF report was due last week, but I can’t do a thing because I don’t have a licence.
Guidance: Martin Oakes with his two-year-old grandson Tadhg Conway
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Guidance: Martin Oakes with his two-year-old grandson Tadhg Conway
“Last August they said ‘another nine months’. Then last month they said ‘a further nine’, but added that if I submit an NIS, at my own expense, my application would be completed in 2-3 months.
“To hell with that — I’m not doing it. Something is very wrong; it’s their job, not mine. I’m just trying to progress my woodlands. But instead, it’s costing thousands to keep insured.
“I’m concerned about loss in volume which will affect growth, while the price of timber has gone through the roof.”
NEFG chair John Sherlock said: “We’re being told if you want to fast-track your licence you have to pay extra money. An NIS costs around €1,500.
“That’s buying a felling licence when extra ecologists were appointed by the Department. Most small forest owners can’t afford this added expense.
“We’re being told you’re going to the back of the queue unless you self-fund a service that is within their remit.
“The whole licensing system needs to go. They are putting a plaster on an open wound that won’t fit.”