Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree on the absolute need to ensure that the licensing system is robust enough in the first instance. If everything were right and fitted the bill at the start, there would not be any appeals. I acknowledge and appreciate that but it is not the job of the forestry appeals committee to examine and reissue licences. The role of the committee is to ensure that the licensing process has been conducted in an appropriate manner. It has the ability to, and surely will, examine whether it needs to have an appropriate assessment or an environmental impact assessment, or screen for those. That is part of the process currently. I do not believe a direction in that regard needs to be inserted. What is proposed is part of what the forestry appeals committee undertakes so I will not be accepting the amendment. I concur, however, that we must ensure the licensing system is robust enough to meet the requirements. I am hopeful that, in years to come, there will be a falling off in the number of appeals because we will have got this right.