Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Interestingly, since 1933 we have had the Foreshore Act and the licensing regime has not been policed that quickly in the interim. In fact, in the past year or so we have seen an acceleration of applications coming through. I take on board the point made about the need to continue but at the same time surely the Minister is putting the cart before the horse. Would we not be better off waiting for the Act to be fully in place and debated, and the licensing regime overhauled, before issuing licences?

I understand that the public consultation phase is 21 days and that there are six or seven applications on the Minister's desk awaiting decision. As he has said, they could be put out to public consultation any time now. The public consultation phase allows between three to four weeks for people to make a submission. Is he telling me that the applications on his desk could be processed between now and Christmas and that people need to be on their toes if they have an issue with the licences being granted?