Mr. Mark McAuley:

I echo Mr. O'Brien's comments on Senator Lombard's suggestion. It is a good one.

Regarding Deputy Browne's questions on increasing the FAC's output, if we could get the FAC's members to implement the legislation on the ground, it would go a very long way towards increasing output and solving the forestry appeals issue. It is good legislation and is capable of solving the problems. The Department has told us that resources will not be left wanting and that, if the FAC needs more people, it will have them, but it will have to get the process right in order to make use of them.

The issue of large versus small applicants is a complex one, but I will be brief. Currently, small applicants to the forestry programme are at a definite disadvantage because a large activity can afford to pay for a Natura impact statement and a small one cannot, given the sums of money involved. A clear gap in the Department's approach is the question of what to do, particularly for farm forestry.

In a farm forestry project, neither the farmer nor the forestry company is in a position to pay for this Natura impact statement. Something has to be done there or farm forestry is dead.

In respect of the 8,000 ha, it is impossible to do without changing the system. As Deputy Collins and Senator Daly mentioned earlier, farmer confidence is critical in all of this. It is a 40-year investment and there have to be reassurances that if, for example, frost, fire or wind damage occur, the Department and the Government have their backs because otherwise the whole thing is too full of risks. There has to be confidence that there is not going to be a moving of the goalposts, which has happened previously in the context of mapping and all of these sorts of things. Therefore, farmer confidence is critical.

On the issue of an amnesty, I am not able to respond because that is really a legal question. I certainly believe that the Department has grave concerns regarding the idea, but I do not know about that. My colleague spoke to Deputy Sherlock and, just to clarify, the old forestry programme implementation group has been wound up. There will be a new group going forward. As I said, I do not know whether that focus is going to be on MacKinnon or on a range of other things. I do not know whether MacKinnon is still alive and well.