Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire mar gheall ar an mBille seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Déanaim comhghairdeas freisin leis an Teachta Fitzmaurice mar gheall ar an obair atá déanta aige ar an bhfeachtas seo.

This Bill allows for the de-designation of bogs that were identified as natural heritage areas, NHAs, in 2014. It will allow for a new protected NHA bog network in place of the existing one which will be more sensitive to both ecological and human needs. What is important is that it will also allow for public consultation, something that was desperately lacking since the previous Government made a hames of implementing the EU habitats directive that was first introduced in 1997. To this day it amazes me that we had such a debacle during the term of the previous Government, especially when one sees the Bill before us today. The previous Government was absolutely rigid in dealing with turf cutters throughout the country. We should remember that not long ago we saw the images of gardaí, helicopters and so forth at bogs and recall the efforts by some to criminalise turf cutters, farmers and families simply for cutting turf, something their families had done for generations.

From my perspective, this entire process is one of social justice. It is a process in which people would have a right to heat their homes with the resource they have to hand. No compensation will ever be enough to deal with the anxiety and stress caused to farmers and families due to the threat of legal proceedings and so forth. Many of the turf cutters were not in it for the money. As a young fellow I spent summers on bogs and, as many others who had that experience will say, there is little if any money to be made from it for most families. There is no profit. It is back-breaking work and it is done by the families concerned with the objective of trying to keep themselves warm in the winter.

Our bogs are vital to our culture, environment and heritage. At almost a quarter of our land, Ireland contains a huge amount of bogland. It is a rich source of fuel, but is also vital in preventing climate change as bogs are a deep carbon store.

Once they are damaged, however, they become harmful to the environment and emit carbon into the atmosphere rather than absorbing it. Turf cutting was a way of life for turf cutters around the country, they knew what they were doing and did it on a small scale for their families and because of this, most rural turf cutters managed the pieces of bogland they had in such a way that those bogs did not become damaging to the environment and did not emit large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The opposite was true when it was done on an industrial scale. Over 80 years, Bord na Móna did savage damage to peatlands in the country. We now have less than 1% of active raised bogs.

It is very important that preservation takes place but that it takes place while we uphold the rights of farmers and turf cutters in the extraction of turf for their families. In 1998, Ireland transposed the EU habitats directive into law. The purpose of the law was to protect our bogland as a natural habitat. Owing to their endangerment, they were given a high priority status. The Fianna Fáil Government at the time chose which bogs would be designated as special areas of conservation, SACs. While the directive stipulated that measures must take account of economic, social and cultural requirements, in other words the needs of the people, it would appear that there was little or no public consultation at the time that these bogs were designated as areas to be conserved. It is no surprise that it was so controversial to the point that a derogation was put in place to kick the can down the road for another ten years. The Government did not, as it could have had done, seek an exemption from the European Commission to allow for the continuation of turf cutting in the public interest. There are now European infringement proceedings against Ireland, which this Bill seeks to mitigate.

Since bogs were designated as SACs, the conservation of degraded raised bogs has actually worsened. This Bill aims to take on board an assessment of how best to mitigate the destructive effects of carbon emission from damaged bogs by the de-designation of those peatlands as well as engaging in public consultation. It is an acknowledgement that management of the conservation of boglands in this State has been a failure. An outright ban on turf cutting in certain State-chosen bogs is not a solution to habitat management in of itself. Best habitat management involves leaving it in the hands of turf cutters who know what they are doing and who have been doing this for generations. In the review and consultation period, we must balance the needs of our turf cutters and adopt an acceptable strategy favourable to all for the management of raised bogs in Ireland. Undoubtedly, this Bill will confer benefits to the State in terms of reduced compensatory costs as well as environmental benefits. However, it is vital that there be a scientific assessment of the impacts on carbon emission that this new raised bog network will have to ensure that benefits to the climate are maximised.

Bogs are beautiful spaces. They are open spaces with wild flora and fauna abounding. We need to make sure that we make the proper use of them and that we develop them for leisure and tourism. There have been a few examples where bogs have been rewilded or at least developed into parks which have become very attractive for local populations and are visited by thousands of people. They are wonderful examples but there are too few of them. The issue of bogs is one of energy. I ask the Minister to ensure that measures to allow turf cutters who seek to retrospectively insulate their houses are continued in the future so that we do not forget about the energy element. If they wish to proceed down this route, the Government should allow it to happen.

I will now address the issue of sustainable energy. In the past six months, Great Britain has produced more solar power-generated electricity than coal-generated electricity. This is a startling fact given that coal was to Great Britain what turf was to Ireland and the fact it is playing such a pre-eminent role in the development of a broad-based sustainable energy package. We do not even have a solar energy industry in Ireland. It is fiercely frustrating that all of the different organisations that are trying to develop solar energy and looking for planning permission know that the route to the grid is years away. Many of the destroyed peatlands of the past and the rural areas in which they are located would make useful places for the development of solar power. I ask the Minister to at least take this into consideration and share this with individuals when she talks to the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources.

The issue of social justice in rural areas is at the heart of this. We have seen the closing down of large tracts of rural Ireland and the rebuilding of those areas on the east coast. I know of between ten and 15 schools in certain places in rural Ireland with as many new students as one single new school in the Dublin commuter belt. The attack on turf cutters in the past has been part of a swathe of attacks on rural communities. I hope that this Bill will play a part in turning this around so that rural communities can be sustainable into the future.

I will now address the issue of sustainable energy. In the past six months, Great Britain has produced more solar power-generated electricity than from coal-generated electricity. This is a startling fact given that coal was to Great Britain what turf was to Ireland and the fact that it played such a pre

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