Mr. Frank Corbally:

I will make one or two points. On imports of peat, food and nursery stock, none of those would have an environmental benefit for Ireland. If we do not have availability of Irish peat, our greenhouse gases and CO2 emissions will rise so we will be in a worse position. Many people have asked about alternatives and previous speakers have explained the problems with those. They are used as much as possible but they are not viable for all industries. One thing to remember is that the alternatives have their own greenhouse gases and their own CO2 cost. They are not magicked out of the air. It is important to remember that, even after all the science and research that we need is done, a certain amount of peat use may be the best environmental answer and may be the most environmentally friendly use of a material we have available to us.

Regarding when this must be done, this is a very urgent position. Mr. Dunne noted that there are already imports of peat coming into Ireland. It is affecting viability and sustainability now so this needs to be dealt with urgently. Mr. Neenan has outlined the legal options so we need to get working on those quickly. Deputy Fitzmaurice made the point that this has been foisted on us by the EU. Practically every other EU state that has viable bogs, such as Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, the Baltic states, which all are or were in the EU, has appropriate licensing and extraction in a sustainable manner. They have proper licensing and proper rehabilitation of peatlands. The EU is not the problem. Our own legislation is the problem.