The Tánaiste is probably aware of letters from Coillte that were circulated to contractors stating that, for quarter 1 of next year, there may not be work available to them. Those contractors have payments of approximately €150,000 per year and were guaranteed five years' continual work if they bought new machinery.

The Tánaiste is probably also aware that in recent days, pallet manufacturers have said they are running out of timber. To give an example of what is going on, I know of a business in County Roscommon which has made 30 forestry applications. It has been waiting 823 days, 681 days and 713 days for replies to applications but has not got one. The average time it has been waiting for a response for each of these 30 applications is 368 days.

I was in Sligo when Project Ireland 2040 was announced. At that time, it was announced that 440 million trees would be planted. The Government said that it would plant 37,410 ha between 2016 and 2020. A little more than half of that has been planted. We have reached 50% of the target for forest roads. Between 2019 and 2020, felling has fallen by 80% while planting has fallen 50%.

The forestry appeals office received 238 appeals last year but, to date, just 136 have been dealt with. It has received 394 appeals in 2020 but, to date, just two have been sorted. An appeals office has been set up to decide whether a case will go for appeal but the people in this office get €380 for an oral hearing, €240 for a desktop review and €240 if those making the appeal do not turn up. Why then would they throw out an appeal? I know of an application to spread fertiliser made in County Mayo three years ago. Those in the Department have still not answered. The system as it stands is flawed. When one sends in a forestry application, it is a forest service inspector who gets it. These people have no ecological degrees so instead of screening out applications, they are all allowed in. The application must then go through appropriate assessment, an environmental impact assessment and all of the other palaver required under the habitats directive if the area in question is within 15 km of a designated area.

There in an emergency in this regard. Some 12,000 jobs are at risk and contractors who make 150,000 payments a year are about to go bust. I see Deputy Cahill is here. Is the Government willing to give priority to establishing the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine so that an emergency meeting can be held? Is it willing to put a group together with an independent chairperson who knows about or deals in environmental planning? Is it willing to let the parties on each side meet? The Tánaiste will speak about new legislation being introduced. Such legislation will solve nothing in the next three or four months. Will the Government take the steps I have outlined to help the situation, which is dire?

The Deputy is way over time. I asked for co-operation at the outset. Bhí mé ag lorg tacaíochta.

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of forestry. The Government is committed to the last Government's plan to increase dramatically the amount of forestry in our country. This will be beneficial for both climate action and rural and regional development. I have taken note of the Deputy's suggestions and I will let the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, know about them. I am sure she will respond to the Deputy directly.

As we all know, there is a backlog of forest licence applications awaiting assessment. This arose following a surge in appeals connected to Article 6(3) of the habitats directive of 1992. This led to the establishment of the Natura 2000 network of designated sites. Article 6(3) requires that where a plan or project is likely to have a significant effect on a Natura site, whether individually or in combination with other plans or projects, it must undergo an appropriate assessment. As a result of these appeals and the subsequent application of the Natura report, a complex restructuring of the appropriate assessment procedure has been introduced by the Department. These procedures are now in place and a project plan is being established to deal with the backlog.

Resources to service this new approach have been, and are being, put in place. New forestry inspectors and additional administration staff have been assigned to licensing. More forestry inspectors will be recruited this year. Two new ecologists have joined the Department's ecology team and four more are to be appointed shortly. The Department has also engaged external ecological experience to help with the backlog of files and four local ecologists have been contracted to provide extra support. A further ecology contract, with five new ecologists, has also been signed. Additional administration staff have been assigned to the appeals office to assist with the increased workload of the appeals committee. Three planning officers have been contracted to work with the forestry appeals committee and a specialist mapping expert has been assigned to forestry issues.

The introduction of this new process has led to delays in issuing licences and has had a major impact on the sector, which we acknowledge. Notwithstanding the delays in the latter months of 2019, it is important to put on the record of the House that 2019 was, in fact, a record year for the issue of felling licences. Some 4,100 felling licences were issued in 2019, which was a 16% increase on the previous year. This year, 783 licences have issued. With regard to licences processed for afforestation, 276 licences have been issued for more than 2,000 ha and 184 road works licences for 65.2 km of forest roads were issued up to 19 June of this year. Furthermore, from January 2018 to the end of May 2020, 3,650 ha of fully licensed afforestation was not progressed to planting stage.

Whoever is giving the Tánaiste his information is massaging the figures. I have figures from the Department. When one gets a licence, it is for four years so if a person planted 20 acres in 2018, it may be recorded as 80 as he or she has the licence for four years. We will move on from that point.

At the moment, timber is being imported from Germany. There is a beetle in Germany and we must be careful not to go down the road we went down in respect of ash dieback. Companies are looking to other places. This started four years ago. We all know about the habitats directive. The problem is that if one keeps sending applications to the same person in the Department, and if that person does not have the qualifications to decide on them, one will keep getting the same answer. Who is going to call stop? Who is going to decide that instead of being sent to forestry officers, applications will now be sent to a person who can screen some out while allowing others in? I know more about Articles 6(2), 6(3) and 6(4) of the habitats directive than most because of their connection to the bogs. If cases are not screened out - and most can be screened out - there will be a logjam of problems. Will the Tánaiste stand over a Department which has sat on its backside looking at this for four years and which is now putting 12,000 jobs in jeopardy?

We certainly do not want to import timber from elsewhere when we could be providing it for ourselves. As I understand it, the Department needs two things: new legislation and additional staff to deal with appeals and applications. The legislation is being developed and we expect to have it within this session. This work is being led by the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. With regard to the additional staff resources the Department needs, as I mentioned earlier, 14 new ecologists have joined it as either permanent or contract staff. It also has employed four extra forestry inspectors on a temporary basis in addition to nine permanent forestry inspectors and a new project manager. Based on what I have been told, I hope we will see improvements and change in the coming weeks.

We have reached the end of Leaders' Questions. Gabhaim míle buíochas as tacaíocht na dTeachtaí.