Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While we wait for Deputy Browne to return, there are a couple of things that I want to get clarified. Am I picking it up right that if someone is in the industry in Norway, a licence takes three, four or six months or whatever, like a normal planning process, whereas in Ireland it is 11 years?

It was said there are 2,000 direct and 16,000 indirect employees. It is a high ratio at 8:1. Could our guests explain that to me?

Is the problem that the likes of the habitats directive, which was basically transposed in 1997, and sites of community importance, SCIs, did not get the statutory instrument, which left them in sort of limbo land and left it open to a lot of litigation for different industries in Ireland?

I have another question on that 11 years versus four months. What is the timeframe in any other country in Europe in the EU, such as France? We know Ireland’s and we know Norway’s. If there is a difference, what is the reason for it? If our guests were brought into the Department, how quickly could they do the process, beginning to end, to decide if that person could get a licence or not?

Is it worrying – or perhaps I picked it up wrong – that the four, five or six operations that are in Ireland are owned by, I believe, Norwegians? Is that a worry? The guests talked about it being a family thing one time and one needing deep pockets to do it. Is it the EU open market that has caused that?