The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, T.D., has today announced the appointment of Mr. Des Johnson as Chairperson of the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC).  This appointment is made following the retirement of Mr. Bart Brady, who was the inaugural Chair of the FAC. Mr. Johnson’s appointment is effective from Monday 22 September.

The FAC was established as an independent appeals body, under the Agriculture Appeals Act, 2001, as amended and is based in the Agriculture Appeals Office (AAO), Portlaoise.  The Committee hears appeals from applicants or third parties who are dissatisfied with decisions made by the Minister on applications for licences for afforestation, tree felling, forest road works and aerial fertilisation.

Noting the appointment, Minister Andrew Doyle T.D., Minister with responsibility for Forestry in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said, “I am pleased to welcome Mr. Des Johnson as Chair of the Forestry Appeals Committee.  Mr. Johnson has significant experience dealing with local authority planning appeals in An Bord Pleanála and is ideally placed to take forward the work of the FAC. 

“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the outgoing Chair, Mr. Bart Brady, for his dedication and hard work as the first Chairperson of the FAC. Bart’s work over the last two years has laid the foundations upon which the Committee now operates and I wish him well in future endeavours.

Note for Editors:

Des Johnson was Director of Planning with An Bord Pleanála (ABP), the most senior technical position within the organisation, until 2015.  Under his control were all planning appeals, both urban and rural, along with local authority applications requiring Environmental Impact Assessment.  Mr. Johnson took overall responsibility for the drafting of a series of Advice Notes for the organisation, most notably in respect of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) arising from European legislation (EIA and Habitats Directives).  More recently, Mr. Johnson has been involved in various consultancies with Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government,;  ABP and the Office of the Planning Regulator.  This work included advising on the transposition of the EIA Directive into Irish law. 

ENDS

Date Released: 20 September 2019