Mr. Barry Delany:

I want to come back to the Chair's point about resources, and I believe we have the resources to deal with that. Obviously, if there are any positives from Brexit, it is that we have fabulous facilities in Dublin Port and in Wexford. In addition to that, we have agreed inspection posts solely for the roundwood, through Wicklow Port and predominantly Rushbrooke. The other port is in Cork but it is predominantly between those two. We have sufficient staff to inspect those consignments. We get pre-notified when they come in. They are not released until we are satisfied the laboratory and our entomologists are happy the consignment is free from the quarantined pest we are concerned about. It is a double approach where the exporting country is certifying to us under the international agreements that it has done its surveys and inspections and is certifying it free, and then we inspect it as it comes through. For 2024, we will be doing 100% inspections on all of these consignments as they come through, and we have the resources for that.

In addition, there has been a reference to our inspection protocol, and Mr. Dunne has just outlined that. Again, that is based on international standards. It is called ISPM No. 31. It is part of the International Plant Protection Convention standards. We follow that, and it is basically to have confidence in the sampling we take when looking at these 40 or 50 logs, depending on the size of the consignment, to ensure we believe that is a representative sample to show freedom from the pest. That is the approach we take, and again, we are working very closely with our Scottish colleagues and our colleagues in the North. We currently talk weekly, if not daily, on this matter.