I wish to raise the issue of the forestry crisis again. I have raised it many times in the House, including during Leaders' Questions. This week, there was another meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine where my colleague, Deputy Michael Collins, also raised the matter.

This situation is becoming a national scandal and embarrassment. Some 6,000 licence applications are caught up in a backlog and our sawmills are importing timber. The construction industry is also affected and 10,000 jobs hang in the balance. These are rural jobs that serve local economies. We need action. Will the Tánaiste play his part in introducing emergency legislation to end this crisis once and for all? Too many jobs are at stake. There is significant concern among sawmill operators, foresters, hauliers and farmers. We need to resolve this issue.

There have been six meetings of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and this still has not been resolved. It is an absolute shambles at this stage.

I appreciate this issue is causing a lot of frustration, not just for people involved in forestry but in terms of the impact it is having in construction as well. The Government is keen to get it resolved. I am told by the Department that licensing this year will be significantly up on last year. There was an increase in licensing output in the seven weeks up to 2 July and approximately 100 licences are now being issued per week. These improvements were interrupted by the requirement to go to a second 30-day public consultation for cases subject to an appropriate assessment. A lot of additional resources have been provided to the Department, with more ecologists, forestry inspectors and additional administrative staff applied to licensing. Twenty-seven ecologists have been recruited, which is an increase from only two 18 months ago. The Department has supplemented its forestry inspectorate with 15 new inspectors. A project manager and business analyst have been recruited and they have been working with the Department since June and 15 administrative staff have been recruited. There is a backlog to get through but hopefully things will improve soon.