Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for coming before the committee to discuss this very important issue. I have been hearing from the industry that we are dealing with a scenario in which Coillte has gone from having anything up to ten auctions per year to only two last year. The first one so far this year will be in the first quarter. The lack of timber going through the system is a huge issue for confidence in the industry. One of the biggest issues the Department has is to try to get confidence back into the sawmills, the growers and the hauliers because there is a huge issue of confidence there unfortunately.

I wish to look at issues regarding licences not relating to Coillte but involving ecology. I have looked at figures over the last week. The Department set out a quota plan last June that could have put a licensing stream in place for what it considered to be a crisis. On that stream, which was to be licences excluding Coillte but involving ecology, the Department proposed: 75 licences in August, of which 56 were delivered; 120 in September, of which 60 were delivered; 140 in October, of which 79 were delivered; 200 in November, of which 84 were delivered; and 200 in December, of which 60 were delivered. This meant that only 60% of the Department's targets were hit in that category. That is a huge issue because it leaves approximately 1,900 or 2,000 licences in that backlog. It is a huge issue as to how to clear that backlog.

I take it that the Department is saying that the entire backlog is going to be cleared in the next 12 months and that the 1,900 licences in that category are going to be cleared by 1 December 2021. That is a really significant step because form has shown, unfortunately, that the Department has delivered approximately 50% of what it previously said it had delivered. Can I get an assurance from the Department that it is guaranteeing that the entire backlog will be cleared by the end of this year?