Mr. Brian Lucas:

Yes, it is clear there will not be an alternative to peat in place by September of this year. In the working group, however, the representatives from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage outlined the current legislative provisions. I have gone through those already and Mr. Nugent has also spoken about them. We made it clear what those provisions are at the working group. Mr. Nugent referred to the dual consent system. This features in the report of the working group.

The report in question states that any system of regulation would need to provide for EIAs, AAs and subsidy consents in respect of previously unregulated peat extraction. The undertaking of an EIA will be mandatory in an application for consent to undertake large-scale peat extraction on a site of 30 ha or more. As a result of this, there has to be a consent system in place. It has to provide for EIAs and AAs. As already stated, in some cases, screening for AAs and EIAs would be possible. Both Departments have outlined all this in the current legislative provisions. I quoted directly from the interim report about an alternative system. There has to be consent system in place.

I listened back to the discussions the committee had with the industry representatives on 6 July 2021. There were discussions about emergency legislation. Again, the Department had made clear at the working group that if there is emergency legislation, there will be no EIA, no AA, no screening for EIA and no screening for AA. The view of both Departments is that would not be possible. Mr. Nugent has already outlined the requirements that Ireland is required to follow under EU law. It is not possible to have no consent system. It is not possible to do away with EIA and AA. At the very least, screening has to be undertaken. I have gone through this already. It is not possible to have a free-for-all with no consent system in place. That is the view of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It is fair to say that it is the view of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications also.