Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I have seen contractors losing their machines in the past fortnight. I will call it very straight: I lay the full blame at the hands of the Department. I cannot understand how it has not considered something along the lines of the case involving Bord na Móna and An Taisce, in which the High Court ruled there is an exemption up to 30 ha. I cannot understand how the Department has not gone down a road such as that. Have people in the Department considered their positions? Has there been consideration of a reshuffle if things are not working out? I will be blunt about it.

In fairness to the committee, it has watched the developing situation on forestry weekly. I will be in touch with Mr. Hayes regarding the dashboard. If there is a differentiation between the commercial stuff and the thinnings it would be very helpful to all members of the committee. I do not do things lightly. We are going to monitor this for three months. I do not often get time to deal with this issue but when there is nothing changing or moving, we have to make decisions. Unfortunately, for the likes of me, the only way we can try to resolve this or move it on is to bring a motion of no confidence in the Minister at the top. That is the last thing anybody wants to do. I actually pity the Minister because it is aspects within the Department that have not functioned. I urge Mr. Hayes to address this issue in the next month or two, because we are going to be watching it. It is not acceptable for 100 licences to be issued today and then 40 each week for three or four months. We are watching the situation weekly and daily. We hear the stories from the industry. I am asking Mr. Hayes and his colleagues to address the issue.

I know Jo O'Hara, Jerry Grant and a few more people have been brought in. Project Woodland is for the future. In the here and now, the timber industry is in trouble. The contractors are going bust, including people who have done 30 years of the finest of service. We will not take this lightly and I will be very blunt about it. The only option for the likes of me is to take it out on a Minister, which is not right but it is the only option, to put it bluntly. Are personnel in the Department being changed around to try to resolve this issue? Unfortunately, Mr. Hayes was before the committee in November and the job has not changed. He can dilly-dally with figures, and technically he is correct with regard to 10% or 15% but 15% of nothing is still nothing and 15% of a bad result is a bad result.

Where does Mr. Hayes sees himself in the next two to three months? Does he see himself getting out 100 licences every week? He speaks about some of the licences on his dashboard with regard to what is planted as against what is issued. The reason is very simple. I am a farmer. If I was waiting for two years, a year and a half or three years for a licence I would not have a notion of waiting for it. I would have moved on to other things so I would not be planting. What is the response of Mr. Hayes to this?