Mr. Brian Batt:

As Ms McSherry touched on, we cannot give definitive timelines for the process at the moment because there are so many different factors that can affect a bay. In the Department, we are trying to process applications as quickly as possible. We acknowledge it is taking too long. We have a very good working relationship with the Marine Institute. We meet regularly to assess what bays can move forward and how we prioritise our work. The Marine Institute will speak on this. It has a heavy workload. Resourcing is an issue across the board. To try to alleviate some of this, the Department has started using externally contracted ecological consultants to process some of the appropriate assessment screenings and appropriate assessment reports that are required for licensing decisions. The Marine Institute has new posts coming online to try to speed these things up as well.

While I do not have anything further to add to the comments by the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, I am aware that he is minded to take a bigger picture look at what we are doing and, as the Deputy said, put timelines on it, similar to those in place in the planning process. I do not have further information on that.