Skip to main content
Normal View

Horticulture Sector

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 31 March 2022

Thursday, 31 March 2022

Questions (116)

Matt Carthy

Question:

116. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress that has been made to implement the short- and medium-term actions of the working paper to address challenges related to peat supply in the horticulture sector. [16813/22]

View answer

Oral answers (12 contributions)

The Minister of State will know there are some horticultural sectors, and I am thinking of the mushroom industry in particular, that need peat to survive. I hope an alternative to peat can be found and I would urge that efforts be intensified in that regard. For years we had the scandalous situation in this State of hundreds and thousands of units of peat being extracted from Irish land and exported. Now we have the scandalous situation whereby hundreds and thousands of units of peat will be imported from other parts of Europe. Both are hypocritical positions. After an awful lot of procrastination, we eventually got a working paper. I am sceptical about its breadth but I would like to know what the progress has been and what has been done about the implementation of that working paper.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)

On 17 January, my Department, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, published a working paper that set out a series of actions to support the horticultural growers who are dependent on peat as a growing medium. Progress has been made on the implementation of the actions in that working paper. A guidance document on the regulatory framework for peat extraction was published by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. That guide can be found via www.gov.ie. My Department has recruited an independent expert to work with growers and suppliers, including Bord na Móna, to ascertain the level of horticultural peat stocks available to growers. This expert will also work with Bord na Móna and other suppliers and growers to ascertain whether any hobby or other peat on Bord na Móna's estate would be of interest or value to growers. Such peat might be suitable for mixing to produce a growing medium of value to growers. This work is under way.

To address the issue of access to peat in the medium term, my Department has recruited planning experts to provide focused regulatory guidance to those wishing to achieve regulatory compliance for extraction of horticultural peat on sub-30 ha bogs for supply to the domestic horticulture industry. This work will build on the expert guidance published recently by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the NPWS on engaging with the regulatory systems that apply to the extraction of peat. It will be important for extractors to engage fully with the regulatory process.

My Department is also looking towards the future and will continue to support and facilitate research in the development of alternatives to peat for horticulture through my Department's research calls and through the EU producer organisation scheme for fruit and vegetables. The announcement of €1.69 million in funding late last year for research into peat alternatives is a significant step in assisting the horticulture sector to transition from peat to sustainable alternatives.

Last week, along with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, I met members of the horticulture industry forum and I assured them that I am fully committed to supporting Irish growers.

I am acutely aware of the difficulties with the supply of peat and the broader issues currently facing the sector.

On the Minister of State's final line, there is no evidence she is committed to supporting this sector. Every Minister that has responsibility, across three Departments, has run for cover. We have not even been in a position to get the relevant Ministers to come before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to discuss the issues. Who is the independent expert commissioned by the Minister of State and when was the expert appointed? Last week, the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine met Bord na Móna, which was not aware an independent expert had been appointed and could not tell us who it was.

It does not matter who was appointed. Is the Minister of State aware that Bord na Móna has entered into a contract with an Israeli company and given it exclusive rights to the 2,000 tonnes of high-grade horticultural peat in its remit? Bord na Móna is a State-owned company. It has unilaterally taken that move despite the Minister of State having a working paper that indicates an independent expert will engage with it. Mushroom growers in counties like Monaghan are asking where they will get peat in the short term. Will they have to import it or will the Minister of State provide the mechanisms for the peat to be provided here in Ireland, where it can be environmentally regulated?

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)

I thank the Deputy. I cannot speak to Bord na Móna decisions. It is a semi-State commercial company and is entitled to make its own arrangements and agreements. The Deputy asked about the planning expert who has been appointed for the short-term actions to address the peat supply. We have recruited Seamus Boland from Irish Rural Link to work with the peat suppliers to ascertain the level of horticultural peat stocks available to growers. For the medium term, we have recruited planning experts, Des Johnson and Padraig Thornton, to provide focused regulatory guidance to those wishing to achieve regulatory compliance for extraction on those sub-30 ha bogs. We have seen a number of judicial cases. Extraction has to be done in compliance with the laws of this land and Europe. Bord na Móna never supplied the mushroom sector and I do not see it doing so now.

I did not say it had. The Minister of State commissioned this working group that mentioned Bord na Móna six different times, yet she is here saying she has no responsibility for Bord na Móna. It is central to the working paper her Department produced. She has appointed an independent expert with a specific remit. The second action in the working paper specifies this independent expert will be working with Bord na Móna, but it already did a deal with an Israeli company before the independent expert was in contact. Any peat extraction must be done legally. Does the Minister of State accept we need to find a legal mechanism by which peat can be extracted for our domestic sector in Ireland so that we can have robust environmental oversight? Does the Minister of State think it is tolerable that the mushroom sector and other horticulture sectors will be forced to continue to import peat from the far side of Europe at a much higher environmental cost?

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)

I accept we need compliance in the sector. We need extractors to work in a regulated and legal fashion. That is why we have appointed the two planning experts to help the Departments and stakeholders to achieve that, if possible. We have no guarantees about what is possible. We have always imported peat. I agree we import more than we should. We are a net exporter of peat and have been for a long time.

Because Bord na Móna was shipping it across.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)

Well Bord na Móna was. But we are still continuing to export peat. It is fair to say that probably most of that peat, if not all of it, is being extracted illegally, which is a massive concern for our climate action ambitions. We have to move the sector on. I am totally committed to the sector, but the commitment is to get the sector off peat. It is a priority to secure a future for the horticulture sector.

What about the short term?

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)

We have put in measures for the short term.

The Government has not delivered anything.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)

We have. An expert has been appointed to work with supplies of peat in the short term.

Top
Share