Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Are there management plans in place for those NHAs where turf cutting is due to end from 1 January 2017? If not, why is the Minister pressing ahead with de-designating 39 and partially de-designating seven in advance of arrangements being made to ensure that conservation objectives will be met on the reconfigured network of raised bog habitat recommended in the Review of Raised Bog Natural Heritage Area Network in 2014? Our raised bogs and other parts of our environment are in jeopardy because successive Governments have tried to be all things to all men and made concessions they should never have made. These bogs are over 10,000 years old and are our heritage. They should never have been used as bargaining chips in Government negotiations. In simple terms, with this decision the Minister is setting fire to our past, our present and our future.

See this speech in context