Mr. John Neenan:

I will deal with a number of questions, starting with Deputy Fitzmaurice's on whether we had given a solution. We have. The working group had an interim report, but it was not unanimous. NGOs such as Friends of the Irish Environment, An Taisce and one or two more basically wrote their own report. The interim report effectively recommended that peat harvesting continue throughout 2021 under emergency legislation and that legislation on a single system from 2022 onwards be introduced. I am not a legal eagle, but our legal people have advised us that, in the short term, an Act of the Oireachtas could exempt large-scale harvesting for a limited period, facilitate screening for an environmental impact assessment, EIA, or an appropriate assessment, AA, instead of a full EIA, and release the industry from the requirement of a licence for a limited time, that is, 2021. That is a short-term solution. Primary legislation would facilitate a long-term solution exempting large-scale peat harvesting from planning requirements once a licence had been granted or an EIA report had been submitted. The Minister could then amend the Environmental Protection Agency Act to deal explicitly with a retrospective use of peatlands and to cover any planning element that was not included in the Act. We submitted to the working group, which submitted to the Departments, the heads of a Bill that would probably sort out this issue. We had previously submitted them to the Departments last March. We have heard nothing back through the working group.

Senator Lombard asked about the three Departments and the meeting of senior officials. Officially, we have not heard anything about that. Unofficially, we have. Obviously, however, we have received no response.

Regarding Deputy Browne's question on whether all of the Departments were acting the same, it was felt by officials at the initial working group meeting and the previous meeting of the Oireachtas committee that some action could be taken in the short term and that legislation could be passed within two or three months. By the second meeting of the working group meeting, though, that view had changed completely and we were back to three to four years. Even if we had a single system, it was stated that legislation on it could take three years.

Members have asked what this committee can do.

Our feeling is that Government Departments do not accept that there is an emergency. They believe there are sufficient alternatives available. That is clearly not the case. The Departments do not appear to understand this. They do not understand what it is like to have a nursery and try to get supplies. What do we tell our employees? It is the same in the mushroom industry. Those Departments and the Ministers concerned do not understand that there is a real crisis just around the corner at the end of September. Mr. Dunne mentioned this, but I believe it is even worse than he has said. One of the companies that have supplies and bought some from Bord na Móna has now been threatened with legal action that it cannot take those supplies from stockpiles, which were purchased previously. That is ongoing also. This is a disaster for the horticultural industry, an industry that we need to build up.

Last week I attended a webinar about plants, the health of plants, and the dangers involved in importing plants and peat into Ireland. That does not seem to be taken into account either. The situation is that the Departments do not understand or want to accept that there is an emergency going to happen. For some unknown reason they believe that there are alternatives.

At the working group it was mentioned by one of the NGOs that in the short-term coir is almost essential. I respectfully suggest that anybody who advocates for this has read absolutely nothing about coir. As Ms Kavanagh mentioned, we do need to get a life cycle analysis of all the materials that are being used. It certainly appears to be a case of anything but peat. What has happened is unbelievable, that this is not understood.