Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 12 October 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. John Neenan:
GMI has previously had meetings with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. There were a number of meetings with the latest one being maybe two years ago. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, was there as well. We had a meeting probably two and a half years ago with one of the officials in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications but it is not prepared to engage with us at all now. That Department is, as I think Deputy Carthy said, passing it on to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, whose officials are trying to do the very best they can although their hands are completely tied. They cannot bring in the legislation. They are the only people who are prepared to discuss the situation with us as of now.