Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I agree with him and cannot dispute much of what he said I acknowledge and appreciate much of Bord na Móna's work in respect of its decarbonisation programme, its commitment to renewable projects and the major investment it has made in partnerships in the context of onshore and offshore projects and solar programmes. I commend it on that. I know that a great programme of rehabilitation and rewetting is ongoing and that funding has been made available by Government and the EU in this regard. Having initiated it when I was in opposition in the previous Dáil, I am also aware of the ring-fencing of carbon tax funding to assist with transition, which the Department has played a role in recently. The European Commission, on foot of an application from the Government to include peat regions in the coal regions, is providing €170 million by means of a transition programme. We now know the regional authority will begin to administer that money in the coming months. I am aware of tourism projects such as that at Lough Boora, which involved the local community working together with the board to ensure it became the success that we know it is. It involves many aspects of biodiversity too.

There is a vast excess of land beyond that mentioned which the board might not necessarily be able to keep pace with, considering the demands, expectation and ambition contained within the State's acknowledgement of the fact that it has to ramp up energy provision in order to deal with our current problems. In the 1940s, when Bord na Móna was given its original remit, many people gave up their lands because they had no prospect of deriving a livelihood from them or of making a contribution to their respective communities otherwise. Many lands were the subject of compulsory purchase by the State. There is now a bank of excess land. Communities are prepared to work with the commercial sector to bring forward projects that can deliver an income to those communities to allow them to address the many deficiencies and inefficiencies that exist. This would also allow them to administer much that is contained in county development plans that otherwise would not be administered. An annual income could be derived from all of this. We are talking about the commercial semi-State sector here. The Minister of State will say that the State lacks the authority to interfere with that sector. Despite this, I am of the view that the Government must look at modernising Bord na Móna's remit.

The Government should establish a task force to create or amend legislation, or amend the terms of reference, in order for such lands to be offered to the commercial and community sectors so that they can participate and derive an income over and above what they have at present and ensure communities prosper and come out of decarbonisation better than they went into it.

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