Mr. Tim Cullinan:

I agree with much of what Senator Paul Daly said. We all know of people who invested in forestry 25 or 30 years ago. They saw it as a pension at the end of the period. Will people go in now? We are seeing the effects of this with the numbers grinding to a halt. There are two reasons for that. Obviously, they are looking at the experience of people in the past, but also they cannot get in at the moment. They are locked out because of the delay in the system.

Will the new legislation do enough? That is a very good question. We made two points today. A farmer forester should be allowed to go in and thin his forest. He should not have to go through a process to get that done. He should be allowed to make a roadway to get access to get in there. Those are the two points. We need to wait and see what will happen. I am concerned over whether it will do enough. We cannot really answer that question today. I have grave reservations on this.

If the length of time to complete the process does not improve, we will have failed again. We cannot afford to wait another two years to see if we fail again. There is a responsibility on the Minister to free up the system. As a farmer, I would find it very hard to decide to plant a forest today when I see the history of the past and where we are at the moment.

Deputy Browne asked about the farm premium. We lobbied for it before the recent budget. It was one of the things we did not get. It is important to have a premium differential to encourage farmers in. I have not spoken to the Minister about that yet. He is aware of it because it was in our pre-budget submission. We are disappointed but we will drive forward again.

Duplication in the system is a problem all round. Our proposals today are about simplifying the system and getting the red tape out of it. I do not know what goes on in the forest service, but I know applications are taking two years to complete. We understand there is an objector as well. However, there must be a way to free up the system. I ask Ms O'Sullivan to speak about whether the appeals system works.