Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. The plan to restore the 1,800 ha of protected raised bogs in 2020 was referred to in connection with an additional budget allocation of €5 million. How much carbon is envisaged being stored over that five-year period? Does the Department use any other agencies to support its planting or the work it does on rehabilitation, restoration or whatever is required? Do any other State agencies tender for that work and, if so, do they get it? I am thinking in particular of Bord na Móna and the potential for it to maintain its workforce through retraining and accessing the tender. Has this happened in the past or could it happen in the future?

I welcome the review of the use of peat in the horticulture industry because we are very keen on a just transition for everybody involved. A number of companies are using their own boglands for horticulture. I welcome that a public consultation has been opened with regard to that because we focused on bogs in State ownership rather than private bogs being used in an industrial fashion. It is right that there should be a just transition for them as well.

My other question concerns Dr. Renou-Wilson's presentation. It concerns the re-wetting of degraded peatlands. How long will it take for these peatlands to stop emitting carbon and instead lock in their carbon when they are re-wetted? Does Dr. Renou-Wilson believe the plan by Coillte and Bord na Móna to plant trees on some suitable bogs is a good approach? I note that she referred to alder in terms of paludiculture. Could she give me a good example of paludiculture elsewhere in the world from which we could learn?