Ms Patricia Kelly:

We are all working together on this particular issue. Mr. Dunne deals with inspectors and approving applications. My remit includes making payments and providing support to the inspectorate in issuing licences. I also deal with promotion, which is a difficulty at the moment, given the situation in which we find ourselves. I have been in this position for the past two years and, as has been well articulated by Mr. Henry, the Department is dealing with an unprecedented challenge on foot of an unprecedented change to the way in which we do things. I worked previously on the rural development side and know that we must always comply with the habitats directive. I have seen first hand the effort involved on the inspectorate side in terms of training, guidance, recruiting ecologists and bringing in a robust system that will stand up to appeal. The things we have tried to do in the last year in recruiting more ecologists and overhauling the appeals system, which was a great source of frustration for people who wanted to realise their licences, are bearing fruit now.

We have had only 50 appeals since the new legislation has come in, so we are well on the way to having a well-functioning appeals system. I have confidence in my colleagues that we will deal with the backlogs. It is a difficult and complex issue and all efforts are being made to address it.