Mr. Jason Fleming:

We all know the reason for the lack of confidence. As has been said, if a farmer applies for an afforestation licence and is waiting two or three years for it, he or she is going to go away and do something else with the land. That is the big problem here. We need licences to be issued within four months, as per the departmental guidelines. That should be the case for farmers and not just for Coillte. If anything comes out of today's meeting, it should be the message that four months is there for a reason. If a licence is not issued within four months, the Department should be getting back to the farmer, engaging and finding out what the problem is.