Mr. Kieran Dunne:

I will try. Deputy Fitzmaurice asked if the working group had come up with a solution and, if so, what it is and if there was general agreement in that regard. There is a general consensus that there needs to be a harvesting of peat in Ireland. That was the view across the working group from Friends of the Irish Environment to An Taisce and from the experienced horticulturists around the table. The short-term solution is agreed. There is general consensus that sub 30 ha. would be possible as a short-term solution and that it would be sufficient to supply the Irish horticultural industry until the medium and long-term solution is put in place.

The experience of the working group was very valuable. A great deal of work has been done since our last meeting with the committee on 16 February. Behind the scenes, the working group and the industry have put in a huge amount of effort to try to resolve this issue. Up to seven months ago, we stated that by June we would be in a crisis situation. We waited months for the working group to be put in place. We submitted the interim report in sufficient time to allow for a resolution of the situation. That was two months ago. We have received little by way of solid reaction from the Government. I know that various Departments are doing their best behind the scenes to try to resolve the situation, which is not an easy one to resolve. There is need for fair play and common sense in this process.

Deputy Fitzmaurice spoke openly and honestly about being a bog man. I live in the middle of the Bog of Allen. We are proud of what we have done and what we have built. We are proud of our achievements, people and industry. We are a close-knit community within the horticultural industry. We are also very proud of our output, professionalism, exports, employment for local people and our local product for the local market, one that is suitable for the Irish weather and conditions. We are extremely hardworking and provide good paying quality jobs in rural communities throughout the country. This can be turned into a good news story. Instead, we are in crisis. We have survived -18oC frost. We have worked our way through Brexit and survived it with the help of the Departments. Throughout the pandemic, we have remained open and kept all of our people employed. We have put our shoulder to the wheel and put on the green jersey. We cannot be asked to do more. We survived the recession, which was not easy in terms of the banks, overdrafts and loans. We survived all of this. We are very proud of what we do. We are hardworking people throughout rural communities in Ireland.

Bord Bia was mentioned earlier. We are proud of what we have achieved with Bord Bia and the Bloom festival over the last 15 years. We are proud of our horticulture and food industry and the promotion of that through Bloom. We are proud of the new green cities initiative and we are supporting it financially. Who will support Bloom and the green cities initiative into the future? Will it be European produce? If we do not have peat, there will be no produce to support Bloom, which is a fantastic festival and celebration of food and horticulture. We have done our part. I am bitterly disappointed with the lack of process, progress and timeframe in relation to resolution of this issue. There is no real common sense and there are three Departments battling about whose problem it is. We had an exceptionally good, raw meeting with the Minister with responsibility for horticulture. It was an engaging meeting attended by Kildare growers and a number of other consultations. It was honest, fair and raw and we got some reaction, but there is still no progress being made.