Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in. I have a couple of questions. Ms Kavanagh spoke about research and development. Will that take five years or ten years? She has been on the working group. I am a bog man. I made it clear from the start when both Ms Kavanagh's group and the Department were in that I wanted to know how they would get over the European legislation and do screening for appropriate assessments and so on. Did the working group find a solution to that European legislation and the habitats directive that our now President signed in? Has the working group agreed on a solution that was put to the Minister? We know how much is coming in from other countries. If there is not the will for legislation from the Department, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, which is being blocked by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, it will not happen. It is my experience that when one Minister is talking in the Dáil, another Minister is sitting behind. We need honesty from politicians about where this is going for the whole peat sector. In the witnesses' opinion, was a solution agreed? They can do all the reports they want and have all the meetings, working groups and BS, to be quite frank about it, but if someone does not make a decision, people will be left where they are. I have seen all this happen before. People will wind down to September and end up missing a year of production, which would be a disaster for many jobs around the country.