Ms Imelda Hurley:

On the overall question of confidence in the sector, confidence in terms of planting and related matters, when I stand back from this I look at it in terms of where we are today. This is a sector that is incredibly important to Ireland in terms of planting trees. It is a sector that is important to local, rural economies and a sector that is so critical it was deemed an essential service during the Covid-19 lockdown in April and May. In my view, for people to have confidence to plant trees and for us to have a high level of afforestation we need people to be able to see that the system works. It has been very challenging over the course of this year because not enough licences have come through the system to allow us to keep the volumes that we need to keep in front of our customers to meet their demands. For us to move forward, it is important that the licences flow, that the appeals are heard and that Coillte has confidence that the Department will do the right thing and ensure that the resources come forward because with the resources will come licences. With the resources, I expect a higher level of appeals will be heard. From our point of view this will build confidence because we can then get back to what we as an industry do best, namely, manage forests and the produce timber needed for the roofs and floors of homes, etc. For now, that is the first piece.

I foresee a further important building block in terms of the regulatory framework that is in use today. As the forestry model and the policy for the future is developed, it is important a review of forestry regulation should be undertaken with all stakeholders. It should look at best practice across Europe and elsewhere in the world, examine what will work efficiently and identify a balanced model for forestry. That balanced model for forestry will provide the opportunity for people to have the confidence to plant trees going forward. I will pass to Mr. Carlin to respond to the remaining questions.