Mr. Colm Hayes:

I will respond to Deputy Michael Collin's other questions. The target set for roads is 125 km licensed per year. I am glad to say that we exceeded that target last year, with 130 km licensed. That was down on the previous year but we have had a good start this year, with 20 km licensed in January compared to 5 km in the same month last year. We are determined to drive on in that area.

To return to the question of prioritisation by volume, while there is such prioritisation, it is not exclusive. I will point out that every day of the week, the inspectors in the Department are working on licences of all shapes and sizes. It is open to any applicant, no matter what the size of the site, to submit an Natura impact statement, NIS, which, as we have made very clear, will bump him or her up the list. Prioritisation based on volume is what comes next but we do deal with sites of all shapes and sizes every day of the week. Last summer it was made clear to, and agreed with, the sector that this would be the approach. As I said, it was a short-term solution to a very immediate problem. It is a strategy that has worked in terms of driving more output, particularly on the roads and the felling but it is not a long-term, sustainable solution in our view. I respectfully disagree with Senator Paul Daly; it is not the revelation that is being portrayed here today. The prioritisation is known but is not exclusive in terms of individual sites and it is not an approach that we intend to continue with in the long term.