Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy says people are willing to co-operate. I take his point about the longer-term involvement of Bord na Móna in terms of peat cutting. The offers were there for alternative bogs to be made available so that people could either cut the turf themselves or have it cut for them. However, because of geography, it was not feasible to do that in many cases as there was not a suitable alternative bog available in the localities, as the Deputy is well aware.

I would like to see a resolution to this and I am glad to hear Deputy Fitzmaurice say he is willing to work towards that. Without going near the European personnel at all, I believe a degree of common sense might sort this out for everybody, whereby they can have access to turf and the compensation fund, because the determination of the environmental specifics of the boglands in question has been set for quite some time. I regret it has gone this far. I cannot and will not interfere in anything to do with cases before the courts. However, I would like to see a resolution to this from everybody's point of view.

The boglands in question are not being taken from anybody, nor was that ever the intention. The Boora bog in the Midlands opened up further to tourists recently. It has significant capacity for tourism and offers a quality programme which explains to people from around the country and outside of it what bogs are about - their history, the important part they have played in Ireland over the centuries and their future from the point of view of hospitality and tourism.

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