Dr. Catherine Farrell:

There are two bogs - Attymon and Cloonkeen. I was in Cloonkeen and I am aware that a constituent of the Deputy is interested in continuing to cut turf in Attymon. On the integrated pollution control licence, we have a remit to rehabilitate all our peatlands after peat production to stabilise the ground in which peat production occurred. This involves drain blocking and natural processes for the regeneration of typical peatland species, or whatever species will grow to stop further erosion and, ideally, further carbon emissions. There is a legal obligation on the EPA to do this on every site, whether the locals can see this or not. That is how it will happen in Derryfadda, whose bogs are out of peat production and where stockpiles of relatively deep peat remain on-site. We need to decommission the bogs by taking off rails and plastic and by working with the people on site such as Paul Quinn, who has mapped every bit of bog in the area. We do not want to lose the expertise of people such as him because they are critical for us. There are four ecologists on our team and when we go out to map or develop rehabilitation plans, our first port of call are the bog lads - the men who drain the bog. If one knows how to drain a bog, one also knows how to rewet it. I would be quite happy to meet the Deputy at Derryfadda, too, because there is a lot to be learned from rehabilitation. All of us, including Dr. O'Connell, Mr. Fogarty, Dr. O'Keeffe and Mr. Lucas, are working together to restore and get peat formation going on those sites.