asked the Minister for Energy when a final decision will be taken on the long-term use, ownership and management system of cutaway bog and the depth of bog to be left to allow for viable farming.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cutaway Bogs.
22.
An inter-departmental committee has been investigating the best possible uses of Bord na Móna cutaway bog with a view to ensuring that they are properly developed and used in the best national interest. An interim report by the committee was published in August 1979.
I would refer the Deputy to paragraph 9.3 of the report which states that it is likely to be a number of years yet before firm recommendations can be made on the optimum uses of cutaway bog.
I would also refer the Deputy to paragraph 10.6 of the report which indicates that the committee are satisfied that Bord na Móna should continue their existing development and utilisation systems for cutaway bogland as the cutaway emerges following extraction of the full fuel resources and that retention of deeper peat for arable crops and vegetable production is a matter on which a decision can safely be deferred for some time.
The committee's terms of reference did not cover the question of the eventual ownership and management of Bord na Móna cutaway bog as it was felt that only when a good deal of progress had been made in determining the uses to which the cutaway bog should be put that the problems attending ownership and management could be approached in a meaningful way.
The committee are continuing their investigations.
Is the Minister satisfied that there are adequate agricultural and horticultural interests represented on this inter-departmental committee to enable them to decide that it is not necessary to take a decision about the retention of peat for agricultural and horticultural uses?
Yes. Representation is adequate. The committee were set up in September 1977 with representatives from the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Fisheries and Forestry and Bord na Móna. I would think that the representation there would be adequate for the purposes the Deputy mentioned.
In view of the fact that we are intensifying our extraction of turf at the moment because of the energy situation, would the Minister accept that more and more areas will have been dealt with and perhaps deeper peat destroyed in the process and that therefore the decision on the question is an urgent one? When does the Minister expect a final firm decision to be taken by the Government on this matter?
I am not in a position to indicate when the final report will be available from the committee and it is extremely unlikely that the Government will take a final decision until that final report is available. As I have already indicated, the committee expect that it will be some years before the final report can be produced.
Why is it going to take some years? Would the Minister not agree that when the term "some years" appears in a civil service document it usually means not some but many? Will the Minister personally satisfy himself that this long time scale envisaged is justified? Perhaps a quicker decision might be more appropriate.
I had made inquiries on the lines the Deputy is now suggesting because it seems that the period involved is very long. I have not completed my inquiries in that regard but it is clear that there are a number of possibilities involved. The Deputy referred in his question to farming and I have referred to horticulture but there are other producers, such as producers of biomass, and other developers who have been investigated. The Deputy is aware, I am sure, that the interim report referred to possibilities of development of amenities such as boating and fishing and so on on cutaway bog. Therefore it is not a simple matter of deciding what is suitable for farming. The Deputy will also be aware that there are different qualities in cutaway bog in different parts of the country. So the task is a good deal more complex than it might appear at first sight. Having said all that, like the Deputy, I feel that the indication of the length of time that we will have to wait for a final report is long and I am endeavouring to see if it can be shortened.
Pending the final report becoming available to the Government would the Minister agree that it would be desirable that any cutaway bog becoming available would be retained in the ownership of Bord na Móna?
I have no information in my brief on this but I do not think Bord na Móna have parted with any cutaway bog. Perhaps there may have been some portion that was disposed of to the Forestry and Wildlife Service in connection with the biomass experiment but apart from that there has been no disposal of cutaway bogs.
Will that policy be maintained at least pending receipt of the final report?
In general I can give the Deputy the assurance that that would be so.