Mr. Tom Donnellan:

I will deal with the first questions but Mr. Reilly, who is our renewables expert, will deal with the question on Cloncreen. On the jobs timeframe, our ambition is to provide them as soon as possible. Some are more clearly defined and 50 jobs have been created at the tyre recycling plant, which we never announced but which were put in place in the past two months. The State does not do any plastics recycling but ships almost everything to Vietnam and China. However, we believe we can provide between 70 and 80 jobs in this area in the next six to 12 months. We think we can add between 50 and 100 jobs per year for the next two years in recyclables. When we eventually get out of peat, there will be another wave of job losses and we want to be ready for that. The power plants will stop consuming it in 2027 and we will stop milling it some time earlier. We are working through pilots on aquaculture and herbs but they will be medium-term jobs that are intended to replace those that may be lost in the next wave.

I agree that Lough Boora is the jewel in the crown. We are very happy with it and it is a great example of co-operation with the local communities and councils.

We are very happy with it, and it is a great example of co-operation with the local communities and councils. We have just agreed to launch a review of it with Offaly County Council to see how we could expand it substantially. Bord na Móna and Offaly County Council are putting money into it to see how we could develop it further because it is almost a secret. We want to see how we could develop, expand and utilise it.

We are working with a number of other areas. We have Mount Lucas, which attracts approximately 20,000 to 30,000 tourists a year. People go running there. Where we exit out of the peatlands we will work and support any community that has a proposal.

In the interest of time I will hand over to Mr. John Reilly who will speak about Cloncreen and the community benefit programme.