Mr. Colm Hayes:

That is not a figure we have. We issue licences with a duration of up to ten years. There are any number of reasons a landowner may decide to fell now or in two years' time, for example, income or the price of timber. Landowners do not have to inform us when they plan to act on that but I believe they have to inform us when it is planned to plant. Under afforestation we give technical and financial approval. The system is designed to give landowners maximum flexibility and to minimise interaction and regulation, so it is up to landowners to decide when they want to bring the licence to market. I tried to emphasise this point at the previous committee meeting in response to a question from Deputy Fitzmaurice. We make no prediction around when the timber comes to market. What we do is report on the volume of licences that we issue.