Ms Anna Marie Delaney:

The rewetting of the bogs and the carbon sinks is an item for Bord na Móna itself. It has mentioned it as one of the possibilities of some of its boglands. We have engaged with Bord na Móna on the new business opportunities and the alternative uses for the landbanks and the vacant workshops. Mr. Hughes also mentioned IDA Ireland advising on those. The holistic programme that is to be prepared under the EU STARTS programme is also given the remit of exploring alternative uses for landbanks and the vacant workshops for community gain. That would not just be tourism opportunities but might also be enterprise hubs and similar initiatives.

On biomass, An Bord Pleanála's decision really impacts this. Edenderry is co-fired by peat and biomass and has permission for this until the end of 2023. After that the options will have to be considered. Bord na Móna is exploring new opportunities in relation to various pilot programmes, such as aquaculture, birch water harvesting, herb farming programmes, and renewables. It will be coming before the committee next week and may address some of those issues in more detail. We do engage with Bord na Móna very significantly on landbanks and its various initiatives, and some of those pilots are based at Mount Lucas.