Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry to interrupt and I know my colleague, Deputy Browne, wishes to come in but I would like to get back to the kernel of the question I had asked. I appreciate there has been progress on this issue but is Mr. Collins telling me that the Department will not countenance my suggestion? The Minister of State has said that there would be a fear of High Court action but the reality is that the majority of appeals against forestry licences relate to felling. Very few, if any, have to do with roads and none have to do with thinning. Is Mr. Collins saying that the Department absolutely will not countenance emergency legislation? That is ultimately the only thing that will address this problem and this impasse. I am talking about emergency legislation that would take the roads and thinning licences out of the process set out in legislation.