Dr. Florence Renou-Wilson:

If it is protected, there is not much option but to keep it really wet and not impact its protected status. As the Deputy said, however, there are loads of areas that are not protected where the bog has been cut. Such bogs can be rewetted to keep the carbon in them and some biomass can be planted. The opportunity to do that is considerable. In fact, we have a huge wealth of experience in that. Unfortunately, this was all funded by Bord na Móna, which has all the reports. I have been working with Bord na Móna for the past 20 years on how to grow anything on peat. We have tried everything. The Deputy mentioned silver birch. Silver birch grows naturally on cutover bog because it is dry. As the Deputy said, as soon as peat is wetted, the birch will look very sad, unfortunately. One could plant other species such as alder, which grows much better in wet soil without releasing carbon from the peat. What I am trying to say is that a comprehensive amount of work has already been done and considerable experience has been gained. Bord na Móna thought at the time that this was not economically viable, but now there is the issue of climate change. At the time, 20 years ago, nobody talked about the carbon, but now, with climate change in mind, we could see many potential options. We should be supported at the beginning in order that we can at least get farmers revenue from these areas. That way they could farm carbon and get a crop out of it.