John Brady
Ceist:144. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of deer hunting licences waiting to be processed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27741/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 1 October 2020
Ceisteanna (144, 145)
John Brady
Ceist:145. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures that will be implemented to deal with the backlog of deer hunting licences for the 2020/2021 season; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27742/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 and 145 together.
Applicants for deer hunting licenses are always advised to apply before July to ensure that they get their licenses before the beginning of the deer hunting season. At this stage all applicants who had applied before July will have received their licenses. Over 3,100 licenses have been issued since 1 August this year.
Notwithstanding this, I am aware of some delays in my Department in processing later batches of deer hunting licence applications this year and that some deer hunters have not received their licenses yet. The delays arise too as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 public health emergency and the effects this has had on travel and working arrangements. While staff in the unit that deals with the issuing of licenses continued to attend the office during the crisis, given restrictions, the numbers of such staff attending was, of course, limited. The database system used for managing deer licensing is not currently a web based one and some technical challenges arose in facilitating the processing of such licenses for staff working remotely with laptops. Staff continue to work to eliminate the backlog as quickly as possible.