Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

The Minister's reply deals with some of the issues I have raised but in Laois-Offaly there are 15 bogs that will be directly affected by the ending of the derogation. Many people depend on these bogs for fuel and it is imperative the Minister ensures they are not left without fuel. They have no access to piped gas and the price of oil is rising rapidly. This cannot be put on the long finger, the derogation has ended. People were told informally to continue cutting. Fair enough but the programme for Government states that the Government will allow for the continuation of turf cutting in these areas subject to the introduction of environmental guidelines the Minister mentioned. We must have clarity on this. When will the guidelines be introduced and will it be done by ministerial order or legislation? The guidelines are not mentioned in the legislative programme.

Europe is bearing down heavily on us on this issue. If we must preserve habitats, there are bogs with very poor quality peat that could be retained as habitats instead of bogs that have three or four metres of fuel on them. When will the guidelines be issued and when will the mediation process be fully explained?

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