Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I accept the importance of this. My Department took the approach to engage experts to look at this. We led on that following the Prasad report. The working group paper was published in January. It took time because we had to put people in place. The reports by the two experts have been published, albeit today. We only received them in order to publish them in the past week or so.

My Department has been active where it can be in this area. In respect of our responsibility for research, we have been highly active in putting funds towards that. The question about the tiny amount of peat that is required comes up often and I accept it is a small amount. However, no matter how small an amount it is, it must be extracted through the regulatory process that is in place. That still must be achieved and, unfortunately, it lies outside my Department's remit. That is why we have engaged across the Government to try to reach a solution. There is no ban on the extraction of peat. The regulations are in place. The consent process is in place for people to engage with and that must be done. We have helped to support through guidance and in the information in our reports on planners, and the recommendations in Mr. Boland's report refer to that. We need to look at how we support people to become compliant in order that we can access the small amount of peat that is required. Unfortunately, that is not happening on the ground, which is why we are in this situation. Certainly as regards the current cases that are still under appeal and any issues and concerns, we need to ensure we can access the peat in a legally compliant way. At the moment, we do not have enough access.