A Clare forestry farmer says dealing with the Department of Agriculture has been ‘like dealing with the Vatican’ in addressing a licence backlog in the industry.
It comes as just seven licences were issued to private forest owners nationwide last week.
There are now over 6,000 licenses in the backlog, with some farmers waiting for two years or more to be able to manage their forests.
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Brian Meaney, who’s a forester in Darragh, says the length of time taken to make decisions is severely impacting those employed in the sector.
