Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I suggest that Mr. Curley will answer the questions posed by Deputy Browne when the Deputies return. As the Chairman has explained, Senator Dolan and I will ask questions and if we get answers then I will suspend the meeting until the Deputies return.

Like Deputy Fitzmaurice, I am trying to get my head around this matter. Mr. Curley is very well versed and knowledgeable about this matter and I apologise in case some of my questions sound silly but I want to play devil's advocate and tease out a couple of points.

I have a small suckler farm located along the edge of the Bog of Allen in County Westmeath.

We have fields that you could not get a plough into at one end and that you would not try to plough at the other end because the tractor would sink. How will the proposal work in such circumstances? My first question is on the percentage. Is the percentage – be it 20%, 30% or 70%, given the year – a percentage of the peatland drained for a commercial purpose, be it peat extraction or agriculture, or of our overall landmass?