Senator Pippa Hackett:

To qualify, the justification for not including this amendment on the timing in the Bill is because there is a provision in the regulations under section 14E(1)(f) for the Minister to set a time limit. Consequently, we do not feel it is necessary to prescribe that in the Bill itself, especially at this early stage, when the whole purpose of the Bill is to make the appeals process more efficient and to work in a more effective way. For us to put a timeline on that at the very outset might be very foolish indeed and could be highly problematic in the short term. In the medium to long term, such a provision is contained in the regulation, which hopefully might alleviate some of the Deputies' concerns on that point.

To respond to Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, I have some forestry on my own farm and am quite familiar with the hazards and problems that might arise should thinning not take place on time.

There were 104 amendments in the Seanad last week, which were grouped into 14 groupings. As I accepted two amendments, that was not too bad a turnaround. Deputies should be aware that many of the amendments from the Seanad are also included in tonight's amendments.

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