Felling licences, exemptions and consents — prepared by Registered Foresters.
Felling licence applications and exemptions, replanting obligations, disease surveys, and the forestry inputs that wind farm, solar and grid projects need. FMI’s foresters are Registered Foresters with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with first-hand experience of felling licence applications, environmental screening and biodiversity classification.
The licence, and everything it depends on.
A felling licence is only as good as the site data behind it. We collect that data ourselves, in the field and from the air, and carry the application through to the conditions on the ground.
Felling licence applications
Thinning, clearfell and continuous cover licences, licence upgrades and amendments, prepared in the owner’s name with the site data recorded in the field.
Exemptions and replanting
Non-replanting exemptions where development replaces forest; replanting obligations met on site or on replant-elsewhere (compensatory) land — found, assessed and licensed.
Forest road licences
Forest road licences, with road lines marked on the ground and haul routes planned from terrain models.
Environmental screening
Appropriate Assessment and Natura 2000 inputs, water-catchment and aquatic-setback conditions, protected-species checks and biodiversity classification, working to the Code of Best Forest Practice and FSC and PEFC criteria.
Planning and EIAR inputs
Forestry chapters and inputs for planning applications and environmental impact assessment reports on forested development land — wind, solar, grid and roads.
Disease and crop surveys
Ash dieback and Phytophthora assessments, sub-optimal crop surveys and establishment audits — the field evidence that scheme and licence applications rest on.
Site data and delimitation
Felling-area delimitation, boundary pegging and marking, site packs and feature collection — the maps and shapefiles the application and the contractor both need.
Conditions during works
Supervision of forestry contractors against the licence conditions, the closed season and public-facing constraints programmed and recorded.
Replanted ground on an operating wind farmThe forestry consents an energy project needs, at every stage.
Turbines, tracks, cable routes and solar arrays through forest bring licences, replanting obligations, reinstatement and habitat commitments with them. FMI works for wind farm and solar companies across Ireland on all of these — and has supported numerous solar projects for a major energy company between planning and grid connection.
- Before consent: forestry inputs to planning and EIAR, felling licence applications, upgrades and non-replanting exemptions, replant-elsewhere land
- During construction: keyhole felling planned, licensed and supervised; timber from cleared areas measured and reconciled; reinstatement advice
- In operation: restock and reinstatement assessment, habitat and species plans with the licensing route, vegetation management near lines and turbines
Before you pick up the phone.
Do I need a felling licence to thin or fell my trees?
In Ireland, felling or thinning trees normally needs a felling licence from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with limited exemptions — and a licence to fell usually carries a replanting obligation. We check which applies to your site before anything is cut, and prepare the application and the site data it depends on.
What is a replant-elsewhere obligation, and can you deal with it?
Where felled land is not replanted — under a wind turbine, a track or a solar array, say — the replanting obligation may have to be met on other land. We find that land, assess it and take it through licensing, as part of the same job as the felling licence and any non-replanting exemption.
What do you need from me to start?
Where the site is, what is planned or already built, and any licences or planning conditions that already apply. From there we assemble the site data — species, areas, boundaries, designations and constraints — in the field and in the GIS, and prepare the application in the owner’s name.
Can an existing clearfell licence be converted to continuous cover?
On the estate we manage for a utility, the Department converted the existing clearfell licence applications to continuous cover thinning licences in time for the first intervention in 2025. We prepare the silvicultural case and the application.
Need a licence, or not sure whether you do?
Tell us about the site. A forester replies within one working day. The first call is free.