Mr. Colm Hayes:

There are three parts to the Deputy's question. First, there are approximately 150 staff in the Department who work on forestry at any one time. I am not sure if we have a breakdown of costs because they vary across grades, structures and roles but that will give the Deputy an idea of the number of people working on forestry. I will do my best to get those costs for the Deputy.

We hold up our hands that while there has been substantial progress, it is very uneven and afforestation is not progressing the way we or the stakeholders would like it to be progressing. It is also not progressing in the way that felling or roads are progressing. I do not make any bones about that. We do not try to pretend that it is progressing the way we want it to progress. It needs to be a clear focus this year. Evening out that progress would be a good thing by bringing everybody up to enjoy some of the benefits that we have seen in felling that have not been seen on afforestation.

The Deputy mentioned the Mackinnon report, which I touched on in response to Deputy Carthy. The Minister has commissioned an external consultant to advise on the implementation of Mackinnon. We expect that report to be with the Minister at the end of February. It will also be sent to the Minister's new forestry policy group, which includes the stakeholders.

I cannot say for certain but I would expect that Jo O'Hara's report will touch on that, how it might work and the merits of a planting grant, as it has been called. I reserve judgement on that. We do not have any view for or against. We will wait to see what the report brings at the end of next month.