Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests here today. We have had a lot of debate and discussion on the production of milled peat at this stage. We need to talk about solutions. As someone who has studied horticulture and who has worked in the horticultural sector most of my working life, I acknowledge that soft fruit production, forestry propagation and even nursery stock can manage without the same amount of intervention with regard to peat. There are loams and soil-based composts. There are other alternatives but there are no alternatives suitable for mushroom production.

With regard to mushroom production, there are no alternatives. I do not know if anyone heard or listened to "CountryWide" on Saturday. Mr. Dermot Callaghan, head of horticulture, Teagasc was on. It was a really good interview. He again convinced the audience there was no short-term alternative. We will need a transitional period, as Deputy Fitzmaurice talked about, of a minimum of ten years. We look at counties Monaghan and Cavan where most of the mushroom production is, though it is around the country but it is predominantly there. We know we have about 2,000 directly or indirectly involved in the industry. One of the first things I did when I was elected here was to go to visit County Monaghan and spend a day up there with Monaghan Mushrooms and go through all the various cycle of mushroom production. What struck me about it was from the very beginning, right out to transport and the fact they were sending mushrooms to the UK. Some 90% of our mushrooms go abroad. It is a vast industry with a sort of farm gate value in excess of €120 million in 2019. This is a wonderful industry. It needs to be protected.

One of the things I have been told by the people in this sector is that labour is cheap in Poland and other places for this industry. Many Polish, Latvian and other people worked here in the industry ten years ago, went back home and are now in this sector. The availability of peat there is easier. The costs of peat, production and wages are lower. It will clearly be a real alternative to move this industry out of Ireland. We have to wake up to that. We have to look again at Bord Bia and the amount of money it is spending. I am in support of Bord Bia but they are branded in Bord Bia with regard to Irish produce in mushroom production and it stands over it. Our demand for our production could increase. The market is huge. It has not been fully developed.

It is back to this medium of milled peat. Really, what I would like to hear today is what the alternatives are. What research is going on? Can the Department share with us where we are in terms of funding for research and innovation and alternatives? It will not happen in the next ten years. That is clear. We know that peat will be at the centre of various mediums for horticulture production but especially 90% for the mushroom centre. I want to hear where we are in terms of research. What funding has been put into that? Is there an international or European dimension to this innovation and research? Clearly we have to do something.

In the short term, we are told by the sector, and I can only go by what we are told, that we will be out of milled peat - forget about all this stockpiling - appropriate for mushroom production this autumn. That is what we have been told. What will we do about it? I want to hear what we will do about it? Deputy Carthy represents that constituency of those employees whose jobs are on the line. Deputy Fitzmaurice talked about just transition. We have to support these people and support this farm gate industry.

My real concern is where we are today. Can we put the pressure on to agree that we will have to accept peat will be there central to this food production but especially for mushroom production for the next ten years? Remember what our remit is in this committee. We are involved in the agrifood sector. We want to support the agrifood sector. We want to retain the jobs here. We want to support rural communities. It is a win-win-win for us if we can get some sort of movement on allowing milled peat to continue to be milled, albeit at a slightly reduced level. Let us call a spade a spade. We want free access to milled peat, especially for the mushroom sector over the next ten years. I am interested to hear what is happening and what negotiations are going on in the past few weeks especially with the mushroom sector in order that we can protect the industry, the product and the jobs.