Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have a lot more work to do to establish our national position on rewetting. That work is under way and will form a key part of phase 2 of the land use review. Much of the scientific understanding and assessment that we are working off at the moment is international and is not specific to our own situation.

We have to fully understand our own situation. Compared to other European countries, we have a lot more peat-based agricultural soil and drained agricultural soil. It is important that this is understood and reflected in our approach at European level in the nature restoration laws and commitments we make. As part of our plans and the climate action plan, we have stepped out commitments to 30,000 ha by 2025 and 80,000 ha by 2030. The new agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, for example, had that as an aspect and the uptake is about 3,000 ha as part of that. We also have a European innovation partnership, EIP, project in the midlands which is doing very significant work in this space and our national agencies like Bord na Móna and Coillte are doing significant work on this. It is going to be about how we provide the incentive to farmers to contribute and it is important that it be on a voluntary basis. Farmers should have the option to decide what they do with their land and we should respect that while giving the capacity to farmers to contribute significantly to those targets. With regard to identifying the overall quantum and situation, there is work ongoing to get a full understanding of that.

As regards carbon farming, there are systems in place in some other countries. We do not have that European platform in place yet. It is happening rapidly and the work is ongoing. Mr. Bill Callanan, who is here beside me, will be in Europe next week meeting with the Commission on this point to feed into it. We are doing significant work on establishing what the baseline is and how we certify the measurement of where carbon is added, and then also looking at how we can finance that and monetise it. It is a rapidly evolving space but the first part of it is the European platform that is now being established, which we and other countries will then be able to work off. The second part is doing the research at national level, which is the work the Teagasc is doing at the moment with the flux towers it has around the country. It is examining exactly what is happening in our soil and the level of emissions as well as the level of sequestration and how different practices are impacting that.