Mr. Barry Delany:

As the Minister and Minister of State have outlined, we have done extensive consultation in the form of publishing our shared vision for forestry and we also finished a consultation on the strategy in the programme late last year. We are finalising that process now where we will have a published strategy and then an agreed programme once we engage the Commission. When we engaged with the Commission last year it advised us, and we were aware, that the new state aid rules did not kick in until 1 January. It allowed a pre-submission back in October-November and we have been engaging with the Commission since.

Thatallowed it to evaluate our new programme on the basis of the €1.3 billion investment and the new approach concerning forest types. As a result, we have been having ongoing engagement with it. Even this morning, we have done so. The considered view of the Commission involves us teasing out any other issues left regarding the environment, climate or state aid rules themselves and, once they are finalised in the coming weeks, allowing us to make our formal submission. We hope teasing out the issues now will allow the formal process to happen quicker. If we make a submission now, without having teased out the issues, it will lengthen the process because we would have to enter formal consultation. We are trying to tease out the issues as quickly as we can. There is a lot of technical engagement. We met the representatives today and will be meeting them again next week. I hope we will be able to sign off then to make our formal submission. It will be in the hands of the Commission then and it will be for it to reply to us straight after that.