Mr. Colm Hayes:

The Senator is correct. We previously indicated to the committee that in order to stabilise the sector, there was a certain prioritisation, particularly on felling, for the larger files. We have gone back now and done a chronological exercise. I am not sure if the Senator was present earlier when I went through the methodology that we applied here. We have a triage team that went back and looked through every felling licence and roads licence that was on our books. The team had a look at the associated harvest plan that was with it and made a judgment on whether it was suitable to go forward to the next stage. If it was, it went forward to the next stage. It was a more efficient process and we are seeing that coming through now, in particular in the higher private felling licences from May, June, early July and now in the last two or three weeks.

The team has done a similar exercise on roads and it has now moved on to afforestation as well. Where it deems that the harvest plan is not up to scratch, we go back to the forestry company with detailed bespoke feedback to identify the gaps, advise what it can do to plug them and get back to us. To their credit, the companies have been coming back to us on those. It is a system of continuous improvement. We need them to come back. We want to make sure we have work in front of all of our people. We have communicated very clearly to the sector that if someone wants a felling licence, a good quality harvest plan is the key to unlocking that. We have given them advice on what that harvest plan should look like. To their credit, companies are responding and we need to bring that forward into the afforestation piece now as well.

That review or triage exercise continues now. The inspector does it on receipt of an application in terms of whether a harvest plan is fit to go forward and, if not, it goes back to the company. At any one time, we have between 600 and 700 applications back with companies for them to work on. It is up to them how quickly they come back. We would encourage them to come back as quickly as they possibly can because if it comes back and it is good to go then it should issue. This is about good communication between us and the individual companies. We are very happy to have any number of sessions on that if it means there is a good flow of material in both directions.