Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman is right in saying that. I was going to touch on the matter. At the rate of one file per week per ecologist, as we are seeing currently, how long will it take to clear the backlog?

I presume the ecologists are costing big money. As taxpayers and committee members we want to see a larger turnover of files. The current rate of turnover of files is not good value for money. It was mentioned that there was a great deal of work involved. How long will it take to clear the current backlog based on the rate at which files are currently being processed?