Mr. Geoffrey Meagher:

Yes. Biomass was expected to be one of the possible answers but there were difficulties with that, although hopefully they are on the road to being resolved. We do need to find solutions, however, because of Brexit and the current level of sterling, things will be difficult. We want to protect Kilberry and the jobs at that facility.

I was asked about apprenticeships. I have travelled around the various sites and I learned that there was a link between Bord na Móna and the Army, which uses apprenticeships from Bord na Móna. This shows that the value of our apprenticeships should not be underestimated.

Deputy Fitzmaurice raised the issue of flooding on the Shannon. We will co-operate with whatever works are ongoing in this area but our lands in the Shannon represent about 2% of the catchment area, and less than 1% of that is inactive in terms of peat production for the two electricity generating plants. Within the terms of our licences and the rules under which we operate, we will work with local authorities and others to help in any way we can. It is a question, however, of what we can and cannot do.

In regard to railway tracks, we will talk to the local communities about what we can and cannot support and we would be very open-minded about things we could do which make sense for all parties, as we are part of the community.