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

Can I be honest with Mr. Nugent? I am not into milling peat but I know bogs better than anyone because I was reared in the middle of one. If any person with 80, 100 or 200 acres goes through the screening-out, EIA and appropriate assessment processes that apply to works over the 30 ha threshold, the council will be afraid to give him or her planning permission. That is the reality. Our Departments are not doing anything to make sure that this blockage is resolved for a transitional period. No one is talking about 20 or 30 years. We are talking about a five to ten-year transition period for the milled peat sector for the sake of jobs, for the mushroom industry down in Monaghan and all those areas, for the horticulture sector and for people who want to buy flowers, whether in cities or rural areas. Why are we not doing something? There is no point in codding ourselves. Councils around the country are afraid of the consequences of all of this different planning stuff. Something has to be done at a high level within one of the Departments.