John Perry
Ceist:265 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties in the archaeological excavation licensing section of the national monuments and historic properties services in view of the fact there is a serious backlog of licence applications; the urgent measures, if any, which have been put in place to resolve these problems in view of the fact that no excavation licence application will be processed for a period of eight weeks and it has been recommended that no licence applications are submitted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5117/00]