Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I chaired the interagency group in the wake of the Drumkeeran landslide.

We have met on a number of occasions. We have an excellent report, which I have read. It has some very good recommendations that we can learn from. There is no doubt that weather-related events seem to have had an impact, in particular a very dry spring followed by heavy rain falls in respect of Drumkeeran.

As I indicated earlier, the matter is under investigation by a cross-Border multi-agency group. It is important that we allow it to do its work, as we did with Drumkeeran. Its investigations are at a very early stage and the initial focus will deal with the immediate steps needed to remediate the site and minimise the environmental impacts in a similar manner to Drumkeeran. It will endeavour to determine the cause of the peat slide and deal with the technical breaches in planning and environmental requirements after that.

All works on the wind farm have ceased temporarily arising from the peat slide, with the exception of those that relate to mitigating the impact of the bog slide and reducing the risk of further slides. I share the view of the Deputies that we need to give serious consideration to the location of wind farms, in particular where they could have a detrimental impact. Perhaps in some cases we are offsetting the carbon saved with a large release of carbon through huge events such as bog and peat slides. We need to stabilise and reconstruct our peatlands and boglands because they are, in their own right, probably the most important carbon sinks we have.

I take on board the points raised by the Deputies and reassure them that we will continue this investigation and, it is to be hoped, come to a conclusion. As we said, the report is useful in informing other events but we need to take a very serious look at land use management and its impact in this country. That is something we are committed to doing in government.

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