Mr. Mel O'Rourke:

What comes underneath that is what is needed for the mushroom industry. Bogs can be 3 m, 4 m or 5 m deep. If we take it that we need 130,000 cu m, then it is easy enough to calculate how many hectares will be needed. This is all we need. There are 100,000 ha of stripped bogs in Ireland, and, returning to the Deputy's comment about the habitats directive, it is not possible to comply with planning permission or to get retrospective planning permission because it is not possible to comply with the habitats directive. End of story. We have been going around in circles. I participated in and contributed to the endeavours of the working group. We contributed to the KPMG report. We then waited for another report that was meant to be giving advice on the number of kilograms or tonnes of available peat.

We are now sitting back in here again two years later and we have achieved nothing. I think the phrase "death by stealth" was used. It is. It is death by a thousand cuts, or whatever, like the Romans did. This is where we are at. It is so frustrating regarding the people who can make the decisions. We have a Minister of State with responsibility for horticulture, and this is absurd, who will not grasp this nettle and deal with it. I challenge her to come in here and to justify what has been going on for the past two years.