Ms Anja Murray:

I thank the Deputy and I am pleased to hear he is aware of the climate benefits of restoring peat bogs.

I will comment first on the forestry issue. Studies have been carried out in the UK and across Europe that show that mixed forestry and continuous cover forestry are more beneficial for storing greenhouse gases in the long term. Most of the climate-polluting gases are stored in the leaf litter and soil beneath the forest, not in the timber, and much of this is released when a forest is clear-felled. Mixed forestry provides continuous cover and allows for more species and selective harvesting of species, but entails more work, skill and expertise and makes a greater return economically. It is also better from a climate change perspective, and the literature supports that view.

We need to examine different ways of approaching forestry. I have outlined the mitigation side of forestry and will now talk about resilience. A large monoculture is more susceptible to attacks from drought, fire or pests. Mixed stands in forestry are more resilient to climate impacts, as we shall see in the future. For example, we have had dry springs lately, which is a big issue. Even without climate mitigation there are many good reasons to have more mixed forestry. Ireland is wedded to monoculture forestry stands, but we need more mixed forestry here.

With regard to peat bogs, the present fight over turf-cutting relates to designated SAC raised bogs which are mainly in the midlands. They were designated in 1994. The best sites for nature conservation were chosen, boundaries were delineated around them and they were protected for nature conservation. Turf-cutting continues, along with many other damaging activities such as afforestation on blanket bogs. The blanket bogs play a great role in storing and actively sequestering greenhouse gases. The focus has not been sufficiently wide, as it has been mainly on raised bogs in the midlands and turf-cutting. For a number of years BirdWatch Ireland has called for the focus to be widened. We need to stop turf-cutting on the designated raised bogs in the midlands. We also need to examine other pressures and threats to cutaway bogs and blanket bogs. Our website contains a ten-page submission from the Peatland Council that details all of those issues and outlines why we need a wider scope. Climate change is a very important part of our argument, along with other issues such as water quality. Peat bogs do a great amount to filter and purify water. Lowland peat bogs also do a lot to soak up heavy rainfall and prevent flooding further downstream. One can attach a real economic cost to that range of services. Raised bogs are more than just a nature conservation issue; the focus should be cast much wider.

Deputy Stanley asked whether the wrong bogs were designated, and my answer is definitely "No". The bogs were designated for species and habitats that are very rare and are increasingly rare across Europe. We selected the most pristine bogs, not the Bord na Móna bogs. We selected the bogs in which people cut turf using the traditional implement called a slean up until the 1960s, not the ones in which people were engaged in turf-cutting with tractors and sausage machines. The right bogs have been designated for nature conservation.

With regard to climate change, there is a strong argument for seeking wider protection for bogs. One EPA-funded restoration project focused on a cutaway bog in County Mayo, and its emissions of greenhouse gases were capped. That is just one study in Ireland, but many have been carried out in other places. Belarus has engaged in such conservation over millions of hectares as a climate change response, and we need to do a lot more of this in Ireland. I must emphasise that this is not instead of other actions to reduce emissions but in addition to them.