Public participation on Forestry Projects that require Appropriate Assessment

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is making a change to the way in which Forestry projects which require Appropriate Assessments under the Habitats Directive are assessed.

This change, which comes into effect immediately, is necessary in order to give full effect to recent legislative changes as made by S.I. No. 293 of 2021. In response to the instrument, the Department has initiated a revised public consultation to ensure that there is full public participation in decision-making around projects that may have an effect on European sites.

The new consultation procedures of forestry licensing applications will now be:

1. A 30-day consultation period on receipt of the license application. This is already the case and applications continue to be available free to view on the Forestry License Viewer (agriculture.gov.ie). Any member of the public can make a submission within 30 days of publication of the license application. A fee of €20 for a submission on any application will apply.

2. A second 30-day consultation period will commence after receipt of a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) or after an Appropriate Assessment Report is produced by the Department, and relevant documentation will be published on the Forestry License Viewer (agriculture.gov.ie). If a NIS is submitted with the initial application only one public consultation period is required. This is the new process, and it is one which makes for extensive public consultation on forestry license applications. It applies to files which are screened-in for Appropriate Assessment. Any such files in the system that have not yet been decided, and future applications will be covered by this new consultation process with immediate effect.

3. Lists of these Appropriate Assessment cases open for consultation will be published on the Forestry pages of the Department’s website at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/642e6-forestry/#public-consultation. Submissions on these applications will be accepted on payment of the fee of €20 per submission, although no fee shall apply where a person has already made and paid for a submission on the same file. More information on making a submission may be found here: gov.ie - Public Consultation on License Applications for Felling, Afforestation, Forest Roads and Aerial Fertilisation (www.gov.ie).

4. Any files which are screened-out for Appropriate Assessment will follow the same procedures as before.

5. On publication of a license decision from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, any member of the public can submit an appeal to the Forestry Appeals Committee found here: http://www.agriappeals.gov.ie/forestryappealscommittee/. The time period for lodging an appeal will now be within 14 days of decisions issued from 12th July 2021. A fee of €200 for making an appeal applies.