Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Boland for coming before the committee and for providing a very good report. Anything that can break the impasse we have in the peat sector at the moment must be commended and welcomed. I will hone in on recommendation 1 and the exemption clarification. It states the aim of the recommendation is to restore confidence in the current procedures and to give the necessary support tools to local authorities to make decisions where possible. Mr. Boland probably hit the nail on the head in that there is a degree of paralysis or fear in local authorities causing them to be afraid to advance or make decisions and they are deferring to other agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. That has in part led to the impasse. It is good that the report sets out what appears to be an immediate solution. It does not require changes to legislation and the key is that it will restore confidence in the process. The report sets out an idea for how it should be done in a pilot scheme. It suggests starting with one local authority rather than a region. I would be interested to hear why. I suggest that perhaps the initial just transition or former Bord na Móna counties could be covered. That would include five or six counties, in the same way as the midlands region would implement a homelessness task force across a number of local authorities.

Given that we have ten to 15 years to crack this nut and resolve this issue, we need some power behind whatever initiative we do come up with. I agree that if we can get the expertise within the local authorities and get them to come together and buy into this, that is probably our best solution for advancing it. Mr. Boland has clearly set out that the stock is peat and the peat is there. It would enable us to ensure production in horticulture and ensure that we would not need to resort to imports. In terms of questions, I would like him to focus on the practicalities of running that initial pilot across a number of counties. What does he see as the barriers to local authorities coming together to do that? If there are barriers, what can we, as a committee, do to get rid of them and ensure this can happen?