Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 5 October 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
EU Nature Restoration Target: COPA-COGECA
Mr. Niall Curley:
It means that agricultural peatland that has been drained for arable, grazing or any other form of agricultural use, no matter what it is, falls under this target to be rewetted or to be restored. Under the annexes of the areas and the measures that are to be followed to fulfil this target, it basically means complete rewetting. As regards the level, it does not necessarily mean to ground level but it will mean the filling up of dykes in bog land or along people's fields and, basically, the stopping of the drainage system that has been put in place to ensure this land is rewetted.