Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I will be very brief because many of the issues have been raised already about the crisis in the industry. My first question is in respect of the changes introduced by SI 417/2020, which relates to fees for access to applications, appeals and communications in respect of licences. Given that the Minister of State has confirmed today that the portal is going to go up in two weeks, why would fees be introduced for access to applications when that information will be available on the portal?

I do not know whether the Minister of State or her official will want to respond to my second question. Who gave the advice on whether the fees were compliant with Article 6 of the Aarhus Convention? We have seen the trouble caused for other Ministers where officials were interpreting the law rather than getting the advice from the Attorney General's office. Was it the Attorney General who advised that the fees were compliant with the Aarhus Convention or was it the case that the officials interpreted the convention and said that they were compliant? Why would access be charged for applications when the portal will provide the information?

Deputy Carthy mentioned the fact that the report on managed forest land in Ireland is now a net emitter of carbon. I refer to a response to a parliamentary question by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, who cited that the reason forestry should remain tax exempt is because of the environmental sustainability from commercial occupation of woodland. How does the Minister intend to square that circle? If forestry is a net emitter of carbon but it is also getting tax breaks, that is not a very good deal for the public purse. The report that went to the Commission only deals with managed forestry. The implication is that it becomes a carbon sink if we give tax exemptions to large investment companies, as is the case in Leitrim.