Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that along the supply chain, from afforestation to felling, tilling and forestry roads, we have faced a situation where our previous licensing regime was found to be deficient in some respects in terms of court challenges. We have had to take account of the court rulings, both here and at the European Court of Justice, ECJ, and rebuild our licensing process as it relates to all of those issues. We have had some comparable experience in this area in terms of the aquaculture licensing issue. I would hope that where we are now in terms of the additional resources that we have and are putting into it in terms of additional staff and rebuilding the licensing system will address the issues. As the Deputy rightly said, whether one is employed in the afforestation side, the nursery side, in the contracting business of building forestry roads, the felling system or working in one of the many processing plants across the country, there is a consequence all along the supply chain for these actions that have been taken. We have had to deal with that and those court challenges and put in place a new licensing regime that takes account of those court rulings. I am hopeful but we await the deliberations of the appeals board on those licences that were issued under the new regime but appealed. We hope they will stand up to scrutiny given that they were issued consequent on the rebuilding of the licensing regime, taking account of the court rulings. It is a significant challenge and issue for the sector but one on which we have engaged with all of the actors along the line in terms of the forestry industry. I would hope we have the solution in hand.