Jim Higgins
Ceist:19 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Energy if he has received the report of the committee set up to find alternative uses for cutaway bogs; and if he will circulate this report to Members of the Oireachtas.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Report on Cutaway Bogs.
Joe Sherlock
Ceist:22 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Energy when the report of the interdepartmental committee on the future use of cutaway bogs is expected to be published; the number of submissions received so far by the committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Tom Enright
Ceist:36 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Energy if he has received the report of the committee on the alternative use of cutaway bog; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Louis J. Belton
Ceist:37 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Energy if he will make a statement on the progress made by the committee established to study alternative uses for cutaway bog.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 19, 22, 36 and 37 together.
The final report of the independent expert committee on the future uses of Bord na Móna cutaway bogs was presented to me in February of this year. In total there were 53 submissions made to the committee from a wide range of interest groups and individuals. The report covers a broad range of issues relating to the potential of cutaway bogs and I am having the implications of the various recommendations examined by my Department at present. I will be bringing a policy paper on the matter before Government in the near future, when the matter of publication will be considered.
I should like the Minister to acknowledge the importance and significance of this matter for Board na Móna who are starved of capital and for whom the issue of cutaway bogs is vital in the context of providing much needed capital, especially in view of the fact that they have a number of very interesting products which they do not have the capital to develop and market. In that context in particular and in view of the need for jobs, particularly in that region, will the Minister undertake to deal with this matter expeditiously?
The Deputy should be aware that there is a range of options for cutaway bogs, including forestry, agricultural, horticultural and amenity units. It may be appropriate for parties, other than Board na Móna to pursue these options and this also will be considered by the Government.
Among those options, will the Minister consider the possibility of using some of the vast cutaway bog resources from the point of view of organising vegetable co-operatives because of the constantly increasing level of horticultural imports?
The agricultural options are being considered.
Will the Minister give an assurance that the cutaway bogs will be retained in one ownership instead of being divided among small groups or individuals? This would ensure that drainage facilities are retained intact, either for flooding use or for maintaining the cutaway bogs for horticulture or forestry.
The Deputy's point is important and will be taken into consideration where it applies.
Cutaway bogs are now regarded as having a major influence on rivers in their vicinity because although they once acted as a sponge, that no longer applies, with the result that there is a raised water level, especially in the Shannon system. Will the Minister say whether that has been taken into account in the study, because downstream of these cutaways there has been major damage which is directly related to this phenomenon?
All these aspects were considered and are part of the matters which influenced those who made the recommendations.
The Minister did not even attempt to answer Deputy Mac Giolla's important question. In dealing with the future of cutaway bogs, will he consider the small farmers of County Offaly whose lands adjoin the cutaway bogs and from whose families Bord na Móna originally acquired them? In many respects these families have an entitlement to an option on these lands when Board na Móna have completed their work on them.
I should like to remind the Deputy that huge areas of cutaway bogs have been available over the past number of years at the time when his party, and indeed the previous Government, were in office. The decision I inherited was to give Coillte Teoranta the first option on carrying out afforestation work on any cutaway bog. I did not consider that was the best way to tackle the matter and I got the agreement of my colleagues in Government to have the whole issue of the future use of cutaway bogs reviewed. A group of people who had expert knowledge in the area were asked to examine it and to make recommendations. They did that and produced an excellent report, but I am not in a position today to discuss their recommendations and what was decided. My duty is, having considered it, to bring it back to my colleagues in Cabinet and I have not yet done so.
That disposes of questions for today.