Mr. Niall ? Brolch?in:

Peatlands are probably the biggest opportunity we have to make quick gains in reducing CO2 and carbon equivalent emissions. No. we are not putting enough emphasis on this at all. It has clearly emerged that the research levels in Ireland are well behind those in other countries in terms of peatlands, particularly countries like Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and so on. In fact that includes most countries in Europe. Having said that, we have suddenly been doing a lot more work in recent years in terms of actual restoration work and we have turned a lot of heads. We were the problem child and we are now beginning to become the poster boy across Europe, which is a good thing. The national peatlands strategy is being upgraded at present and I would encourage as much emphasis as possible being put on that. We need to upgrade the various figures we have and to reflect the measurements which are taking place in the country. We historically have good maps. We have peatland maps from 1812, believe it or not, which are the envy of the world and some of the oldest land-use maps. They were put in place by the British and it was to do with the Napoleonic wars. They were going to use the peatlands to plant lots of trees, which we now know is not a good idea in climate emissions. Napoleon and company did not see carbon emissions as a big issue. The answer to the Senator's question is that if we want to make big gains we can do it.