John Gormley
Question:532 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the studies that Dúchas has carried out on the hydrological impact of peat extraction. [7077/03]
Written Answers - Peat Extraction.
John Gormley
Question:533 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if there have been environmental impact assessments on peat extractions here. [7078/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 532 and 533 together.
Study relevant to the hydrological impact of peat extraction has been undertaken from the early 1990s in the context of a joint Irish-Dutch raised bog research project. The report of this overall project will shortly be jointly published by my Department, the geological survey of Ireland and the Dutch state forest service under the title Conservation and Restoration of Raised Bogs: Geological, Hydrological and Ecological Studies.
Information regarding environmental impact assessments is not available to my Department on a current or up to date basis. However, neither the report on EIAs published by my Department in 1996, the inventory of environmental impact statements submitted from July 1988 to December 1996, nor later information now being compiled by my Department indicate that an environmental impact assessment has so far been carried out in relation to any proposed peat extraction in Ireland.