Mr. Colm Hayes:

At any one point we always have 4,000 to 5,000 licences on hand. It is probably more now because of the backlog. It is not an agri-environment scheme. There is no set deadline. Applications come in every day and licences are issued every day. It is like the Passport Office or the National Driver Licence Service. It is a continuous service. As I said, Deputy Fitzmaurice asked me on the previous occasion how many are stuck in the system and I indicated that it was approximately 1,900, which was and is the figure. When we presented our project plan to the sector last July, for example, the figure was in the region of 1,750 but it clearly said that this is the cohort of files which are on the ecology backlist. It does not include Coillte. It does not include files which are not screened in for ecology. The Deputy will see that every month in terms of the licences that are issued. If there was a misrepresentation on my part, I put my hands up but there was absolutely no misleading of the committee and we clarified that as quickly as we could afterwards.