Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a former Minister of State, I fully understand that. An issue often raised with me and one which I am passing on as a messenger, as Members of Parliament are, is that nothing has improved in the past 13 months. Back in June 2020, the project plan for processing forestry was to clear the backlog. Everyone referred to the crisis in mid-2020. One of the first questions I am asked is who is the line manager with responsibility for this in the Department. People say it is a complete failure and it is very hard for me not to agree with them. They ask whether the people involved in the Department when it said there was a crisis in June 2020 are still involved. Are these people entrusted with delivering the same results? There was a crisis more than 12 months ago and that crisis is even deeper now.