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

For many years, we saw our bogs as a resource to be exploited. We did not understand their value as natural and archaeological heritage, flood regulators and carbon sinks protecting our climate. We were not unique. Most European countries have damaged most of their peatlands. Some, such as the Netherlands, have gone from having enormous expanses of peatland to having almost no bogs left. Most other European countries long ago recognised the value of their bogs. The Dutch regret the loss of their bogs to such an extent that they established an organisation in the 1980s to help conserve Irish bogs and have provided funding to buy and protect bogs in Ireland. Across Europe and the planet, countries are committing to the protection of their peatlands and the rewetting and restoration of large areas of peat. Unfortunately, the Government is not listening to the scientific and economic advice that is leading other countries to reverse the process of peatland and wetland loss.

In Ireland, the scientific foundation for a new approach to our bogs was set out in a major project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA - and based at UCD - Bogland: Sustainable Management of Peatlands in Ireland, which reported in 2011. The academics who produced the study pointed out that policies for the management of peatland in Ireland are led, not by the public good or the national interest but by single interest groups often against their own long-term interests. Despite recommendations in the report, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, continues to be chronically underfunded. This is demonstrated by the fact that the review of the raised bog natural heritage area network, to which the Bill refers, had to be outsourced to private sector consultants. There is still no meaningful outreach programme to build public awareness and understanding. NGOs such the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and An Taisce do what they can, but it can never be a substitute for a properly funded public awareness campaign.

Communities located near protected bogs, such as Clara bog and other raised bogs which have become tourism resources, have had the chance to see the economic value of protected boglands as well as the amenity value. Abbeyleix bog, which was saved from Bord na Móna by a concerted local campaign, is another example of a community gaining a wider value from its local bog. I welcome the recent announcement by the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, that Bord na Móna lands near Athlone will be allowed to flood as part of the recently announced flood alleviation scheme for the town. However, the fact remains that peat extraction, on a large or small scale, is no longer economical.

On a large scale, electricity customers pay a subsidy to ensure three peat fired power plants continue to operate, despite the fact that they produce more expensive electricity and bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, continually advise that the subsidy should be discontinued. On a small scale, the use of turf for domestic heating is inefficient combustion in thermally inefficient houses. It is at considerable expense, leaving many families worse off or even in fuel poverty. During the past five years, NGOs have repeatedly requested that compensation for the end of turf cutting in special areas of conservation and national heritage areas should be integrated with funding from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, to bring houses up to a higher standard of efficiency, comfort and health. However, it seems the different Departments do not want to work in tandem.

Both Bord na Móna and the private contractors which cut turf want to keep doing what they are doing. It is not about what is best for the economy, climate, lands downstream or our threatened wildlife. The Ministers and Departments, which should take the big picture view, cannot see past this narrow sectional interest. Therefore, we have the ridiculous circumstance of sending our officials back and forth to Brussels to ensure we are allowed to keep burning our heritage and deal with the fact that we are not complying with EU laws. These are laws which we helped to write, to which we signed up and which we then failed to implement. This brings us to the small further step in the destruction of our natural heritage contained in the Bill. In 1999, when Ireland was seen to fail to comply with EU law on the environment impact assessment of peat extraction, the European Commission brought us before the European Court of Justice. In that case, C-392/96, the court found Ireland in breach of EU law on environmental impact assessment and stated that its actions on peat extraction resulted in the "unremitting loss of areas of bog of nature conservation importance". Incredibly, since the 1999 ruling, great expanses of peat continue to be extracted in the absence of environmental impact assessment. Much large-scale peat extraction occurs with no planning permission, as demonstrated by analysis of satellite imagery by UCC that was commissioned by Friends of the Irish Environment with funding from the Department. Despite the fact that this unauthorised activity can be seen from space, no planning enforcement action has been undertaken.

To return the European Court of Justice ruling against Ireland in 1999, in order to comply with the ruling, Ireland had to agree changes with the European Commission. This included changing the thresholds for environmental impact assessment of peat extraction and the undertaking of an intensive programme to designate raised and blanket bogs as natural heritage areas. This led to the designation of 75 bogs as natural heritage areas. Nevertheless, in 2016 we have a special Bill put before us by this Government specifically to enable the Minister to de-designate 46 of these 75 bogs. That beggars belief. Why does the Minister refuse to protect our peatlands? In addition to their obvious biodiversity value, peatlands are also very important carbon sinks. Globally, peatlands store an equivalent of 75% of the total amount of atmospheric carbon. Our bogs also act like sponges, helping to protect us from flooding. After many recent catastrophic floods in this country, does this Government get how vital it is to take preventative action and not the exact opposite? Draining and harvesting our bogs prevents them from effectively carrying out this vital natural function. Cutting up our bogs has resulted in silting river beds and lakes, as we have seen with Lough Derg on the Shannon system. Worse still, when drained and harvested, these bogs go from being carbon sinks to being very large sources of carbon, as the cutting process dries out the bog, allowing the remaining peat to oxidise and release CO2. This is why we need to protect our peatlands.

If we are going to have any real chance of preventing climate change, we must keep every ounce of carbon in the ground. As a country we should be world leaders in the conservation of our bogs but there is no leadership in this Bill. It chooses to destroy rather than protect. The Minister may dress the Bill up in whatever way she wishes. To the Green Party and many others, however, it is nothing more than a shameful destruction of our heritage. It will lead to the destruction of part of our past while simultaneously placing little or no value on our future.

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