Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

First, I commend Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan for putting forward this important motion. It is one of the most important motions to come before this House.

Before being elected, I gave a commitment to turf cutters, particularly in my area, from Coolrain, Castletown and surrounding areas, that I would do everything I could to protect their rights. That is why I am speaking and why I have worked with Minister over the past 12 months.

I welcome the protestors outside, those who have come from all parts of the country to protest and to defend their rights, which they should not have to come here to defend.

I welcome the forum organised by the Government, Mr. Justice Quirke's report and the notion of a national plan. The plan must be welcomed, but it needs to be done properly and in good faith. The Turf Cutters and Contractors Association has done excellent work and has actually done a national service in producing and putting forward an excellent plan, which offers a way forward. I thank Mr. Michael Fitzmaurice and his colleagues for that.

The whole issue has to date been handled very badly by previous Governments and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Little or no notification has been given in regard to designation. Some turf cutters received letters, others did not. Notices appeared in local newspapers, such as the Leinster Express in County Laois, which on 21 December 2002 referred to commercial turf cutting but not domestic turf cutting, which was totally misleading. Previous Governments brushed this under the carpet and hoped it would go away but it has not. It is here and must be dealt with. It should have been sorted out prior to the sites being registered in the EU habitats directive in 2002.

A national plan must deal with the bogs where turf cutters cannot be relocated to more suitable bogs. The problem of those bogs must be solved or there is no point in a national plan. I hope the Minister will not try to pick them off one by one. To take the Laois situation, where two bogs in the south of the county were designated side by side, what was done to the turf cutters at Knockacoller and Coolrain was a grievous wrong, as I have discussed with the Minister. The two bogs are the best bogs but were designated as a special area of conservation, SAC.

We have looked at all the options with the turf cutters and we have brought forward proposals, which I gave to the Minister a number of weeks ago. There are options for compensatory habitats, which I welcome, and options to relocate the designation. We have worked with the committee, which has gone to the forum to put those options forward. The Killamuck bog outside Abbeyleix is 93 hectares, almost twice the size of the Coolrain bog. It can be designated and, in fact, the locals in that area want it designated.

The whole issue of consultation must be dealt with carefully. Mr. Justice Quirke recognised that it will take a lengthy and tortuous process of negotiation over a protracted period of time. He said that what is most required is a determination on the part of the State to explore every avenue to accommodate those communities gravely affected by measures over which they have had little control. There are options for the small number of bogs where relocation of turf cutters is not an option. We need to tell Europe that the process to date has been flawed and that we need to start again. There has to be compromise. If necessary, we need to fly over the senior officials from Europe to show them the extra habitats that can be preserved without encroaching on turf cutters. We need to explain to them that this is a win-win situation.

We have two possible situations, namely, we can compromise or we can have confrontation. If it is confrontation, I know which side I will be on. I hope that does not happen. I hope the Minister has entered into this in good faith. He has made a good start. I notice his speech yesterday gave a chink of light where he said there may be the option of re-designation in some cases, a point I read carefully. Let us work together. Let us move forward to get a solution. Let us look after our own people, not the bondholders. Let us look after the turf cutters in rural Ireland.

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