Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As we begin, I wish to state to Mr. Lucas that we have had the stakeholders presenting before us for over the past hour and they are very worried about the economic viability of their industry going forward, the lack of peat, and the impact that will have on their industry.

Deputy Fitzmaurice made the point that if we get the spring that we got last year, it is in the months of April and May that peat will have to be cut. With the working group there is a serious urgency on getting a resolution as to where we find ourselves. I will open the meeting to questions from the floor and Deputy Collins was the first member to indicate.