The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Lobbying Organisation The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Date published 21 Jan, 2021

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Agriculture

Period 1 Sep, 2020 to 31 Dec, 2020

Specific Details Ireland's Forestry Sector - State of Emergency

Intended results IFA Proposes the following six emergency measures: 1.The system must ensure that no farmer has to wait longer than four months for a forestry licence as set out in the Forestry Act 2014 Section 18 (1), irrespective of the application size. 2. Forest road and felling/thinning licence applications that are in the system for more than this period (four months) should be automatically approved under an amnesty provision 3. Amend the Forestry Act 2014 to introduce exemptions for forest road and thinning operations, these do not present a significant landscape change and present a low risk from an environmental perspective 4. Review the current appropriate assessment (AA) screening process, associated rules and thresholds. In particular, introduce a threshold that forests less than 15 hectares should be exempt from the AA screening requirement. Only Forests over 15 hectares would be screened to determine if they need to submit a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) while forests over 50 hectares must submit a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as is currently the situation. 5. A cost-based planning support grant should be introduced, as referenced in the Mackinnon report, to assist with increased costs and requirements associated with applying for licenses 6. The appointment of an independent Project Manager within the Department to implement the operational changes recommended in the Mackinnon report to develop an appropriate and effective licensing system.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Tim Cullinan IFA President, Vincent Nally IFA Farm Forestry Sector

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (2-5)

Social Media (2-5)

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Jackie Cahill TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Martin Browne TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Matt Carthy TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Collins TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Fitzmaurice TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Joe Flaherty TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Paul Kehoe TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Brian Leddin TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Ring TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Victor Boyhan Senator (Seanad)

Lynn Boylan Senator (Seanad)

Paul Daly Senator (Seanad)

Tim Lombard Senator (Seanad)

Denis O'Donovan Senator (Seanad)

Chris MacManus MEP (European Parliament)

Deirdre Clune MEP (European Parliament)

Barry Andrews MEP (European Parliament)

Luke Ming Flanagan MEP (European Parliament)

Seán Kelly MEP (European Parliament)

Frances Fitzgerald MEP (European Parliament)

Clare Daly MEP (European Parliament)

Mick Wallace MEP (European Parliament)

Billy Kelleher MEP (European Parliament)

Maria Walsh MEP (European Parliament)

Ciarán Cuffe MEP (European Parliament)

Grace O'Sullivan MEP (European Parliament)

Colm Markey MEP (European Parliament)

Pippa Hackett Super Junior Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Charlie McConalogue Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)