Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McAuley for his paper. I am familiar with IBEC in many forms, particularly in this area. I thank him for the professional way in which IBEC conducts its business and communicates with Oireachtas Members. It is very concise in all its documentation that I have received and that is helpful in getting to grips with the issues and the tasks. IBEC is in the business of promoting business and enterprise and I support all of that. However, I could not help thinking as Mr. McAuley was reading his statement to the committee that we have heard all this before. We had the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, in the Seanad and the Seanad unanimously approved the Bill. I had great reservations about it. I studied horticulture, I know a lot of people in the forestry sector and I am close with people who own commercial forests. We said it was not all about the logjam in the appeals process and now, some weeks after this legislation was approved, Mr. McAuley is painting an honest and frank picture, but a very negative one.

What sticks out for me is that, having met the key Minister responsible for this sector in the Government - the Green Minister, Senator Hackett - they remain unconvinced and that is disappointing. Perhaps the witnesses will share with this committee what happened in that meeting. What are the main areas of concern? We were led to believe it was a block caused by serial objectors going up and down this country. That was the picture painted by this Administration. These serial objectors were totally opposed to it on spurious environmental grounds and so on. Now we are told we have 2,000 cases that are not being appealed. I would like to hear about that engagement.

I am concerned, as members of this committee should be and also as a Member of Seanad Éireann, that there were 8,888 public submissions and, as of today, I have not been able to view those because of data issues and so on.

It does not wash with me. I am clearly not in a position to read all of those submissions. I make the call that we need to see all of those submissions because people in the commercial sector made them. We got broad brush strokes to the effect that this was all about appeals. I would like to hear the issues of concern that remain and why the witnesses were not convinced by the responses from the Minister in question.