Mr. Gabriel D'Arcy:

Mr. Ryan will answer that, but first I will make a couple of points. An important point to understand with regard to many of the bogs in Britain is that the bogs we are discussing here are cutaway bogs. We have gone past the peat layer into the mineral layer. The hydrological properties of that land are, as the Deputy rightly points out, somewhat different from the sponge effect of a bog. Some of these areas, not necessarily those we have identified for our clean energy hub, straddle the Shannon and in many cases are below its water table level. When the peat is cut away the pumps in many of these areas will be turned off and they will flood naturally.

Yes, it is possible to combine renewable energy and turbines on flooded peatlands, for want of a better term. The engineering process to create the foundation and so forth is different but it is eminently possible. As we are on the subject of water and water management, Bord na Móna has been before this committee talking about wetlands and flood management and the prospect of storing some of this water, treating, managing and disseminating it to attract water-dependent and other industries into the midlands. That is a very viable option for some of these peatlands.