Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this specific issue, which is important and which was raised privately with me as well.

Bord na Móna is facing significant business challenges in the context of the deregulation of the electricity market and increasingly competitive and challenging environments across all its business areas, not least in its horticulture business. The framework for addressing the challenges facing Bord na Móna is its most recent five year corporate plan and the company's wider sustainability plan to move away from peat production for energy use. It should be noted that the company intends to cease the harvesting of energy peat by 2030. The harvesting of peat for horticultural purposes is expected to continue after that point.

In order to secure the most important market for its horticultural product range, Bord na Móna recently acquired White Moss Horticulture Limited, based in Kirkby, near Liverpool. The integration of White Moss into the horticultural division of Bord na Móna has implications for both Bord na Móna at Kilberry, County Kildare, and the Cúil na Móna plant in County Laois. The rationale for this particular acquisition is to secure the UK export market, which accounts for the majority of the company's horticultural sales. This in turn is intended to support the long term sustainability of Irish jobs in the horticultural and feedstock divisions of Bord na Móna. Additionally, the acquisition helps to sustain the horticulture business into the future by delivering security of non-peat feedstock supply - green waste - which is unavailable in sufficient quantities and geographic concentration in Ireland, and also a competitive supply chain model that drives value in operations and logistics.

This has become increasingly relevant, with constrained currency exchange margins in the immediate aftermath of the British vote to exit the European Union and the possibility of trade tariffs in the longer term.

Regarding the specific matter raised by Deputy O'Loughlin, namely, the future of the plant at Kilberry, while this is a matter of concern to me, I must point out that it is an operational matter for the company and one in which I, as Minister, have no direct role or function. Nonetheless, Bord na Móna has informed me that the majority of jobs based in Kilberry will be secure following the integration of the White Moss acquisition. I consented to the acquisition of White Moss Horticulture limited with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and following thorough analysis by Bord na Móna in the first instance, by NewERA, as the ministerial and commercial and financial advisors and by my own Department officials. My consent to the acquisition was conditional, however, on assurances provided by the management team at Bord na Móna that staff would be fully engaged with during the acquisition and integration process, that, where necessary, redeployments would be pursued and that any potential redundancies would be minimised and would be on a voluntary rather than a compulsory basis as far as possible.

The question that arose was how to maintain the long-term sustainability of the horticulture business and secure as many jobs as possible here in Ireland. It was a very difficult choice. It is not Government policy to invest in operations outside of this country unless there is a clear economic dividend within the State. A lot of thought and consideration went into this proposal by NewERA before it came to me. I discussed and considered it thoroughly before I made any decision on it, with the sole intention being to secure as many jobs as possible in Kilberry and in the horticulture operation as a whole.

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