Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State can give me all the figures she likes. We have had committee meeting after committee meeting with the sector and they are telling us they are in trouble for lack of peat here. The Minister of State talked about the sub-30 ha bogs. There has been no action there, according to the stakeholders. What can the Department do? Without the co-operation of the three Departments involved, everything is at a standstill. Where we are looking at it as a committee and from listening to the stakeholders, everything is at a standstill waiting for the three Departments to bang their heads together. Is it now the policy that instead of the three Departments working together, the mushroom sector and horticultural sector will be forced to continue to import peat? Imported peat from the Baltic states is now €26 per cubic metre whereas last year it was €16. Even the cost involved is going to drive companies out of business and the sector is a major employer in this country. There needs to be an awful lot more done.

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