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

I thank the Deputy for the question. Last year, as he is probably aware, I commissioned a KPMG report to identify the challenges and opportunities for the horticulture sector. The report referred to by the Deputy in his question, "Opportunities for the Irish horticulture sector", was published in July this year. The report identifies the sector's dependence on peat as a threat in the SWOT analysis and the research challenge to finding alternative growing media. The report also proposes actions to address this and other cross-cutting challenges to the sector.

Additional actions were taken to address peat supply in horticulture, arising from a working paper published on 20 January 2022 by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This working paper outlines a series of actions to support horticultural growers who are dependent on peat as a growing medium. The aim of these actions was to address the short-term issue of supply, the medium-term issue of future access to peat and also the longer-term issue of replacement with alternatives for all sectors within horticulture, including mushrooms.

In terms of short-term action for my Department on peat supply, Mr. Séamus Boland was commissioned to carry out a report on peat supply. A final version of his report has just recently been received by my Department and is due for publication shortly. On medium-term action relating to access to peat, Mr. Des Johnson and Mr. Padraig Thornton were commissioned to carry out a report on the planning requirements for peat extraction on sub-30 ha bogs. A final report of this work has also been received by my Department and will also be published shortly. The longer-term action for my Department requires research into alternatives to peat. Some €1.69 million was awarded by my Department for a research project, Beyond Peat. The project is co-ordinated by Teagasc, with project partners across Ireland. The project aims to identify full and partial replacements for peat within professional horticulture. The project is progressing well and to schedule. Separately, research projects on peat alternatives continue to be approved by my Department under the EU producer organisation scheme for fruit and vegetables. Trials are ongoing in this area.

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