Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ms Reynolds noted that the Department had 600 applications in hand, of which 193 were disposed of last year. That indicates there is a logjam and there is likely to be a substantial increase in the board's workload. Resources will probably be Ms Reynolds's primary objective when she meets departmental officials. Preparatory work probably needs to be carried out in the context of assessments of licences in the context of Natura 2000 sites. As it is hoped that process will be speeded up, it would be unfortunate if a logjam was created at the other end.