merrion street

The Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for forestry, Senator Pippa Hackett , has today announced the launch of Phase 2 of her Department’s online forestry portal. The portal, called Forestry Licence Viewer (FLV) shows application information for forestry licences in Ireland and provides members of the public with easy and direct online access to forestry licence applications and decisions. 

Announcing Phase 2, which follows from the launch of Phase 1 in December 2020, the Minister said, “I am delighted to see Phase 2 launch today.  From today, all new forestry licence applications received, along with all related application documents, will appear in the FLV as they are advertised and are open for public consultation.  The portal is using the most up to date mapping tools and the information will be available at the push of a button.”

When the Minister launched The Forestry Licence Viewer last month, she gave a commitment that further developments would follow shortly. Today’s launch follows up on that commitment.  Aside from making all application information available, it will also provide that when a licence is decided, the final decision and all related documents can be accessed there. Over time the portal will build up to hold a repository of licence applications, supporting documentation and decisions. 

Making the point that while today is an important milestone, the viewer is already proving its worth, the Minister continued, “I expect today’s new features will be welcomed given that the tool is already proving to be hugely valuable. The usage so far has been high, and the portal has been well received.  It all bodes well for the even further developments, and I am very much looking forward to Phase 3 which will be made available this Spring, and which will provide an on-line facility to make a submission on a forestry licence application.”

Notes for Editors:

The Forestry Licence Viewer (FLV)  is available at www.gov.ie/en/publication/642e6-forestry/#forestry-licence-viewer.

The FL) is being released in three phases;

1. Phase 1, which was launched in December 2021, shows high-level site information with easy-to-use search tools.
2. Phase 2 – application documentation will be published in the viewer, for applications received and decisions made on those applications from 11th January, 2021. This will include applicant information, supporting documents such as reports, assessments and any submissions received on an application. The decision on the application will also be published.  The application documentation will be published when the application is advertised and open for public consultation; submissions will be made available as they are received and processed; decisions and supporting documentation will be published as they are advertised.
3. Phase 3 – a link will be made available on applications that are open for public consultation, to allow interested parties to make a submission online and to pay the appropriate fee.

Users can use licence reference numbers, search by location – townland and county, use the recent applications list or zoom into a location. Different layers may be selected in the right-hand menus options and the user has a choice of map background.