Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address the Minister on this matter as it is a very important issue in Laois and Offaly. As a former employee of Bord na Móna, as were most of my family, I am very concerned about it.

The effects of job losses and the closing of the bogs in the midlands is going to be devastating. I was in Edenderry last night, and people there are very concerned. People are also very concerned across County Laois, as are those who work with Bord na Móna in County Offaly, and indeed those who work in south Kildare. There is huge concern locally about this move. The Edenderry plant in west Offaly will have to switch to biomass. The Cul na Móna plant depends on horticultural peat, and it will also have to change due to the demands of retail chains in England, which want peat-free compost by 2020 or 2021. Where is the Government's plan on this? It is the shareholder, and it acts on behalf of the people. Bord na Móna was established with a clear mandate to create jobs in the midlands and to develop our indigenous resources and industry. It has certainly fulfilled that brief; it has transformed the midlands of Ireland, in particular Laois-Offaly, parts of Kildare and other counties.

We need to move quickly now. We have to make up for lost time. We have sleepwalked into this situation. I have been highlighting the fact that we need to put other resources in place for a number of years. We must now quickly develop biomass crops and wood products, and moving to renewable gas, solar and biogas. Bord Na Móna can do that, and we have to put those green industries in place now.

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