Mr. Pat McCormack:

I agree 100% with the Deputy. Everyone assumes that this land will always be Bord na Móna's. Not only do we need a written agreement, but it needs to specify that any commitments given in writing are honoured in a potential sale of the land. The movement to the stewardship of somebody else is critical. The Deputy is perfectly right. Time and again we have seen agreements and everybody smiles, shakes hands and walks away, but we need to have this in writing for the generations of farm families to come who potentially will be affected.

In response to Deputy Martin Browne, obviously we need to establish a scientific basis for the rewetting. We need a scientific and independent judgment on adjoining farms pre rewetting and potentially post rewetting. Those of us who are from rural areas and involved in farming understand the significant difference between having a flow and not having a flow. That is talking very much in layman's terms. There can be major consequences associated with rewetting, which can potentially be seen from miles around in extreme circumstances.

It is important to get a commitment in writing. Equally it is important to get a commitment on regular maintenance. There is no point in saying that these outside drains will be maintained at different intervals; we need to get that commitment in writing. That will be critical for the knock-on effect for the adjoining holdings.