Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 April 2018
1130. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps that have been taken to explore new crop production techniques such as paludiculture by his Department since responsibility for this action under the national peatlands strategy was allocated to it and to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. [16675/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, announced the publication of the National Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) Management Plan 2017-2022 in December 2017.
This is the first national plan for Ireland’s raised bog SAC network and together with the National Peatlands Strategy (2015) and the Review of Raised Bog Natural Heritage Area Network (2014) form the Government’s approach to the management of Ireland’s peatlands.
The independently chaired Peatlands Council was established to assist the Government and stakeholders regarding certain issues related to the management of Ireland’s peatlands and was specifically requested to oversee the drafting of a National Peatlands Strategy.
The National Peatlands Strategy sets out how to sustainably manage and protect/conserve our national peatland resource. This strategy estimated that Irish peatlands store some 1,566 million tonnes of carbon, representing approximately 64% of the total soil organic carbon stock present in Ireland.
The direction Ireland takes in managing its peatland is and will be informed by best scientific knowledge. I am aware that extensive research on the role and functioning of peatlands has been undertaken and further work is on-going. The future use of Ireland’s peatlands will also be influenced by national, EU and international legal considerations and obligations.
DAFM operate several schemes which incorporate standards which ensure the sustainable use of land, the maintenance of natural resources and limiting climate change, for example, the Basic Payment Scheme and other area based schemes such as the Greening Payment, the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme (ANC) including Islands and the Green Low Carbon Agri Environment Scheme (GLAS). Monitoring and implementation of these standards is carried out through cross-compliance inspections thereby ensuring that agricultural land is maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition.
