Ms Anna Kavanagh:

I agree with Mr. Dunne. Even the bog he mentioned would not be used for horticulture. I am pretty confident that Bord na Móna has finished the supply of horticultural peat.

Deputy Fitzmaurice asked about research and development and whether it would take five to ten years or whatever else. It is difficult to answer that question. Going on my experience in the UK, where I spent 20 years, it was at the forefront of not using peat and examining peat alternatives and has been doing so since the early 1990s but it has not come up with alternatives to peat. The UK is using a lot of alternatives along with peat in both the retail and the professional market but it has not replaced its more than 5 million cu. m of peat used with alternatives, so there is not a quick fix and we need to see what sustainable, responsibly resourced materials we have. As Mr. Neenan and I said earlier, we need to do life cycle analyses on those materials and need to know whether any of them seem to be as bad as people perceive peat to be, which is not necessarily our view, to judge it from there and then to test and research those products. It is difficult to put an exact year on it. Furthermore, going back to the properties of alternatives, there is no better diluent for those alternatives than Irish peat because Irish peat has the best buffering capacity. It will kind of buffer the inadequacies of some of those alternatives. It is crazy that we are importing peat.

I wish to refer briefly to an article published in the Baltic Business Quarterlymagazine on 29 June. It states that Latvia has reported a 35% increase in exports of its peat in the past four years. It is giving Latvia its highest export potential, and 31% of what is used in the EU comes from Latvia. It is also stated in the article that 1 cu. m of peat grows 6,000 young trees, enough to cover 3 ha of land and grow 7,000 seedling plants. That is enough to grow 16 tonnes of cucumbers or 32 tonnes of tomatoes. Latvia produces 2 million tonnes, which is 10 million cu. m to 12 million cu. m, of peat. Estonia and Lithuania produce the same amount. The distinction is made between use for power, energy and fuel and use for horticulture. That has been missed here, and I would like to point out that the use of horticultural peat in Ireland represents only 0.12% of Irish peatlands. That contributes to food production and plant production, which is for the well-being of our citizens. There can be an inaccurate accounting of greenhouse gases as well. Peat is part of a circular economy. It does not go to waste when it is finished. The peat that is used to grow plants eventually probably ends up in the soil so it is used in that way. Mr. O'Rourke also pointed out that in the mushroom industry it is used on land to condition soil for cereal growing. We should appreciate that.