Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Senator Pippa Hackett):

I thank the Deputy.

As addressed in the series of actions we published earlier this year, there are three types of actions. In the short term, it is commissioning those experts, both to ascertain the volume of peat supplies that currently exist and available to growers, and to examine working with extractors to enable and support them to become compliant. We have had decades of non-compliant peat extraction and we are now at this point where that cannot continue anymore with a variety of court cases, etc. It is important that our Department is putting in place those experts to facilitate that in the short term.

In the medium- and longer-term, we are looking at research. My Department has invested quite heavily in research into alternatives, and that continues.

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