Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I fully agree on that last point and there are areas to work on there. What we need, however, is an open mind. I have put this to three different Ministers, namely, Deputies Noonan and Ryan and Senator Hackett. They all have one thing in common, that is, a party that is not very much trusted by the people involved in this or many other sectors in the community I come from.

It is important we put this in context because people, obviously, are conscious that we need to protect our peatlands. To give an example, in 1995 Bord na Mona harvested 8 million tonnes of peat in one year for power stations alone. That amount of peat would keep the Irish horticultural industry going for 200 years. We are, therefore, talking about a relatively small amount of peat extraction for an important part of our domestic rural economies. That is why we need to have an open mind. I fear there are closed minds within the Department. There is constant talk about alternatives that have not been presented yet and it makes me fearful for the future. I hope the Minister of State can put minds at ease.

See this speech in context