Mr. Fintan Kelly:

On the point about the status of the science, on the contrary to there being confusion around the impact of drained peatlands, I would say that the emerging science is showing that the impact is worse than had been predicted. I referenced the research that came out this year showing that emissions for afforested peatlands were three times higher than previously estimated. Many Irish researchers, such as Dr. David Wilson and Dr. Florence Renou-Wilson, have said for a long time that the emissions from domestic turf cutting were massively underestimated. If anything, when it comes to the status of the science, what is emerging shows that we significantly underestimated the scale of the challenge in the past. That has been reflected recently in the EPA since this report and in the Climate Change Advisory Council's carbon budgets report. It is countering what the farming groups would say but my impression is that the situation is actually much worse and there is a consensus that peatland restoration is identified as an excellent policy mechanism to reduce emissions in the land use section, to counter biodiversity loss and to reduce water pollution.