Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I welcome his statement to the effect that the ESB will proceed with the planning applications to which I referred in the coming weeks. We look forward to that because it guarantees the remaining workforce in the peat harvesting area meeting expected demands. The blueprint for such permissions was set and a precedent was created with the Edenderry application, which was eventually successful in the courts in recent years.

I also welcome the commitment to apply to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for specific targeting in the midlands region. The Minister said that the board, various local authorities and others can make applications to existing financing arms of the State, whether it is Enterprise Ireland, the rural regeneration programme and so forth. Will the Minister commit to a specific forum to deal with the offshoots of this decision and the ongoing transition that is taking place? Bord na Móna has been the driver of economic life in my county and those adjacent to it for 80 years. The effect will not only be on the workers and their families but also on communities and ancillary businesses and services offered in the region. They will be decimated unless there is a specific concerted effort to deal with this issue. That is why we want funding specifically targeted not only from the European globalisation fund but from the State, whether it is from the ring-fencing of revenue carbon tax revenues and the public service obligation saving that will be there from next year on.

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