Mr. Pat McCormack:

I will be brief. Deputy Fitzmaurice talked about a national agreement with local committees. I always dread the term "local committee". I would like to see a local steering group. There are liaison officers and field officers out there but they are no substitute for stakeholders having the opportunity to express their views around the table. Covid will not last forever and organisations and groups at local level can get in and steer it from a local level. As my colleague, Mr. O'Brien, put it, farm families have worked very hard improving land and all that good work could be cleared in a very short space of time.

As regards Deputy Carthy's question on horticultural peat, it has been a serious alternative to straw for animal bedding. It is compliant, to the highest standards, from an animal welfare point of view. The decline in the tillage area farmed in this country is of huge concern, as is the effect on local nurseries mentioned by Mr. Rushe. Ultimately, different stakeholders will be there for the long term. Some farm families were in the affected areas pre-Bord na Móna and they will, hopefully, be there after Bord na Móna. What happens regarding land wetting will have a critical impact on whether they will or will not be there.

Senator Daly asked a question earlier on incorporating farmland. Those farmers have no desire to see their land go into wetting. They want to farm their land, live a simple life and make ends meet for their families. The stakeholders who will be there the longest are the farm families, subject to being respected in the months ahead. We will certainly continue to liaise with anyone who wishes to do so, whether it is the landowners, a significant proportion of whom are our members, or the various local representatives. Any Minister who wants to chat to us is more than welcome to sit down with us, as is Bord na Móna. As Deputy Fitzmaurice said, the ink needs to dry. We need to get commitments for the years and generations ahead.