Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister of State on the fantastic work he is doing. It is much appreciated in my constituency where he has been supportive of a number of projects.

I have a several issues I wish to cover in the few minutes I have. Orphan estates are obviously a big issue. We have a small estate in Longford called Radharc na Coille with six houses, all of which are privately owned. The residents are having to service and look after the treatment plant themselves. Irish Water has a plan for an adjoining estate, Woodland Park, but it is several years away and the five families are really struggling. It is something I will take up with the Minister of State later.

I welcome the continual improvement in water quality, but I take issue with the overemphasis on rural Ireland and especially farmers in the new third river basin management plan currently being finalised. However, I will use the few minutes I have to highlight the EPA's heretofore steadfast opposition to the harvesting of commercial peat. This has placed a stranglehold on our horticulture sector. Representatives from the sector, including the chair of the IFA's fruit and vegetable committee, Mr. Niall McCormack, will address this issue at the agriculture committee later. Mr. McCormack is one of the largest strawberry producer in Ireland and I am a valued customer of his. He is an environmentalist and enthusiastic about the land. Several of his neighbours have travelled with him to support him when he speaks at the committee, but also to emphasis that they appreciate the work he is doing as a farmer and custodian of the land.

Earlier this month we saw a significant development in the stand-off as the EPA lost a long-running court battle against three local peat producers. The case ran for three days and at no time was the EPA able to establish or indeed provide expert witnesses to prove that the three parcels of bog were technically and hydrologically connected. Time and again the EPA has depended on the flawed claim that bogland is hydrologically linked. At no time has it ever been able to produce this evidence and given the opportunity in a courtroom recently it was simply unable to provide it. The EPA has repeatedly made this statement about hydrological connection without any evidence in law or in fact. This is clearly not the case and the hydrological report prepared for the defence by Dr. Raymond Flynn in the recent court case clearly shows this.

This is less an issue for the Minister of State's Department than the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, but I am sure he will be aware Séamus Boland of Irish Rural Link recently addressed the agriculture committee on the challenges and the crisis in the peat harvesting sector. He provided a detailed and rational argument for allowing peat producers to operate on holdings of less than 30 ha. Armed with this recent court decision, there is now no known impediment to running with this pilot concept and I will be asking the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and his Department to take it on board. I hope it finds equal favour in the Minister of State's Department as well.

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