The Government's newly established Forestry Policy Group met for the first time on Thursday this week. The new strategy group has been created to examine the future of the forestry sector in Ireland and what changes may be needed to policy going forward.

The membership of this new strategy group is quite a broad church, with members coming from a wide range of organisations within the forestry sector, including nursery, sawmill and contractor representation. Additionally, the forestry group has representatives from environmental NGOs, community groups, farmers and growers. State and semi-state bodies such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Coillte and Teagasc are also participating in the group.

The first meeting of the forestry group included presentations on the history and implementation of the Government’s current forestry programme. Members were also given the opportunity to set out their vision for forestry in Ireland. The meeting also heard details of the new Forestry Licence Viewer – the first phase of which will be launched in early December.

The meeting included a presentation from Jo O’Hara, a forestry expert from the UK that has been appointed to advise the Irish Government on the implementation of the Mackinnon Report. Ms O’Hara, who is the former CEO of the Scottish Forestry Commission, acknowledged that the current situation in Irish forestry was challenging, but said she was looking forward to working with all industry stakeholders to implement the recommendations in the Mackinnon Report on the Irish forestry sector.

Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Pippa Hackett, described the first meeting of the new forestry strategy group as "productive".

“I am acutely aware of the current crisis in forestry licencing and of the significant and detrimental impact it is having on this sector. I want to assure all that my Department is continuing to work hard to resolve these issues,” she added.