Mr. Mark Carlin:

The number of felling licence applications is around 750, which accounts for 2.3 million cu. m of timber. We have 311 road permit applications, which account for 760,000 cu. m of timber. We have more than 200 appeals, which is 700,000 cu. m of timber. There is plenty of supply in the system and we will continue to bring that supply through as quickly as we can. On whether we can get this licensed fully by the end of the year, to do this, we need to triple the current rate. It is possible because we are providing good-quality NIS information that should be capable of being processed very quickly but there is a need to significantly improve the run rate.

I would say four things about the impact. The first is that supply is very tight. It is critical. We are on a week-to-week basis at the moment. This is affecting our ability to sell timber. We have had to cancel our annual contract event and are unable to confirm when our next timber auction will be. This means the sawmills are in a very difficult position in terms of their own productivity and are looking at how they can balance supply and potentially take a reduction in some of their shifts. Again, I am aware that some harvesting contractors are parked because of work availability. The markets in the UK and Europe are very buoyant. This, unfortunately, is having an impact on the confidence in Irish supply. We could be taking more market share in the UK because the demand is so high.