Sinn Féin has called for forestry plantations over five hectares large to be subject to planning permission.

The party's spokesperson on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Kenny TD, has introduced a Bill to amend the provisions of the Forestry Act 2014 which would provide for planning permission for all forestry developments over five hectares.

Deputy Kenny said under current regulations, forestry can be planted "without practically any planning permission at all".

"Planning permission is only required in order to plant more than 50 hectares of forestry, which is a very large area," he said.

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"As a result of this, very few people have had to apply for planning permission at all over the years. What we are really concerned about here is the type and scale of forestry that is evident in many parts of the country and the visual, environmental and societal impact it has.

"The visual impact is certainly something I see in my part of the world, where we have large areas of forestry, mainly, Sitka spruce and pine forests, which grow and block out people's light. In many places on the landscape we see them break the horizon."

Continuing, Deputy Kenny said forestry planted without planning permission can "completely destroy people's lives".

"Many people built or bought houses with a beautiful view of a lake or mountains and within a couple of years forests grew in front of them and they have no right to object and no right to say anything to anyone about it," he concluded.

(LM)