Mr. Brian Lucas:

I first wish to thank the committee for inviting me and, as requested, I will read out my statement.

Action 5, set out in the National Peatlands Strategy 2015, provides for a review of the use of peat moss in the horticultural industry. To undertake this review, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht established a working group comprised of representatives from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht which chaired the working group, the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the EPA.

The working group produced an issues paper on the review of the use of peat moss in the horticultural industry. This paper was published on 9 October 2019 and submissions were invited on the paper by 31 January 2020. Some 34 submissions were received from industry stakeholders, environmental non-governmental organisations and the general public and all of these are available to view online. A report on the review of the use of peat moss in the horticultural Industry was prepared by the inter-agency working group on the basis of the submissions received. The review report was published by Deputy Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State with responsibility for heritage and electoral reform, on 7 September 2020.

The review report concludes that there are significant positives and negatives arising from ending the use of peat moss in the horticultural industry. There are complexities in terms of the environmental benefits of ending horticultural peat extraction set against the economic consequences for the industry, food security, the lack of as effective an alternative to peat, and the economic and cultural impact on the local communities that would be affected.

The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan accepted a recommendation in the review report that a working group be established, to include representatives from relevant Departments and State agencies, environmental NGOs, and industry stakeholders under an independent chairperson to examine the issues which were identified during the review. In particular, these are as follows: the reduction and ultimately the elimination of the use of peat moss in the amateur gardening sector in order to leave what remains in use for the industry sector to buy time to develop alternatives, enabling food security and to provide industry surety; the graduation of the elimination of the use of peat moss in the horticultural industry over an agreed period of years with an agreed end date; the financing and support of those workers whose skills cannot be accommodated in proposed alternative industries; providing investment in further research into the development, education and use of alternatives to peat moss, such as bark, wood fibre, coir, biosolids, bracken and green compost, perlite, vermiculite, rockwool, and horticultural clay and in new methods of farming such as paludiculture and sphagnum farming; the upskilling of the existing workforce to regenerate the existing bogs for use in paludiculture, eco-tourism, carbon farming, and tree farming, as appropriate, to optimise environmental outcomes; the quantifying of the value of the existing viable peat lands as carbon sinks to then determine a carbon market to incentivise owners and operators of peat lands to preserve, rewet or restore their assets; and educating the public to the benefits of what would be proposed to include the climate and environmental benefits, and the economic, social, cultural and public health benefits.

The role of the independent chairperson will be to chair meetings of the working group and to issue recommendations to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, arising from its deliberations. The Minister of State hopes to be in a position to appoint the chairperson of the working group shortly. When the chairperson has been appointed, invitations to nominate representatives to the working group will issue from the Department.

I also would like to add, Chairman, that since I prepared and sent my opening statement to the committee, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, has, in fact, appointed a chairperson to the working group which is something we can also discuss during the meeting. I thank the committee for inviting the Department to make this presentation and I am willing to try to answer any questions members may have.