Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I asked that question because I believe the fundamental nature of the business is not sustainable on a carbon basis. We are a country which is shamed internationally in carbon leagues and so on. We cannot continue burning peat in power stations, importing palm oil kernels or acquiring forests in Georgia. The environmental community will soon start targeting companies which do that, arguing it is not naturally driven.

I asked the question on the price of carbon and moss peat products because we will soon count that as a store for carbon. The value of stored peat is a multiple of what it may be for commercial purposes. There is a fundamental need for the company to genuinely live up to what it is saying in its advertising. With the company's current trajectory and the ignoring of the carbon issue, I do not believe it will last another year or two. The publicity this will attract to the company and the country will be damaging. I am as interested in those jobs in the midlands as anyone else. However, hand on heart, we will not do it if we keep burning peat.