Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make two points. If the Minister of State is saying that 28 days is an ample period of time, that is one thing. It is another thing, however, to accept that the Minister has the powers to reduce that period to 14 days. Most people would say that 14 days is a short period of time, especially given that it can take up to six weeks to get access to information, as my colleagues have pointed out. We are concerned that the combination of all of these points is putting in place a barrier to getting access to an appeal.

I wish to take up the point around the serial objector. While the individual has not been named, it has been repeatedly suggested that one or two individuals are taking all of these cases and that this is somehow vexatious. I would like to read something to the House:

You must consider what the complaints are about. If you de-legitimise them it will just infuriate a whole group of other people. It's not literally just two or three people; I know they are the instigators of the complaints but they represent broader groups on the ground and communities on the ground.

That is a quote from Minister of State. It is unfair for somebody to be referred to as a serial objector when the Minister of State has identified that the people who are putting in the objections are doing so on behalf of communities frustrated by the current forestry planning system. The Minister of State might address her colleague and disclose where the variance is around whether she supports the individuals taking these cases on behalf of communities.