Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed)

3:00 pm

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Donnellan and his team for their presentation. Many of the questions have been asked and addressed so I will try to avoid repetition. Mr. Donnellan finished off where I was about to start, which is the mandate under which Bord na Móna was established and, in principle, the recognition of the necessity to address a jobs crisis that existed in that region. As the company goes through its transition, there is a difficulty with the loss of employment. I am impressed by the strategy it has set out in the documentation. The company accepts that it must move on. Others have identified that it would have been all too easy to wind down the company and start concentrating on other areas such as other areas of the world and not use the company's capital base and funding but it has not done that. Based on the presentation, management has clearly identified opportunities in areas that others have not identified. Bord na Móna is examining alternative energy generation sources, which is good, and has the appropriate lands for that. This is welcome in terms of where the overall energy strategy is going but, again, Bord na Móna rightly identifies that this is not its core mandate. It is seeking to create employment. When Bord na Móna talks about new opportunities, that is welcome and I hope it gets the support of other State agencies concerned with job creation, namely, IDA Ireland or Enterprise Ireland when it comes to the kind of supports that are necessary or that would be available to an organisation other than Bord na Móna.

When Bord na Móna was established as a semi-State company the rules of the game were very different from what they are now. They are based on our commitments within Europe and supports that have the potential to cause market distortions. I expect and hope that Enterprise Ireland and the Government will recognise, through other means, the assistance that Bord na Móna needs in that regard.

The witnesses have covered many of the areas in which I am interested. Bord na Móna owns a colossal amount of land so, for that reason, any other carbon sequestration opportunities that can be found would be great. Mr. Shier has clearly identified what can be done with peatlands in terms of regeneration and the rewetting of the bogs. One must consider whatever other land cover that can be provided. I come from an area that is well familiar with bogland and being bogmen, as it were, so we fully get mixed land use as the land is not terribly arable and some of it varies in nature. I ask Bord na Móna to develop a strategy on carbon sequestration in addition to the company's main purpose, which is to find meaningful employment for the people who reside in the area and from within resources. I ask the witnesses for their thoughts on how that might progress.

I like the idea that was mentioned, which is secondary, but goes towards lifestyle and ensuring, as society evolves and develops, that younger people have a better appreciation of nature and habitats. If we can inculcate or instill such appreciation in younger persons, it will allow them to live out their lives as citizens that are more in tune with nature and the environment than the generation that has gone before. Bord na Móna has many opportunities to have a meaningful impact on climate change and the management of our environment.

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