Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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4. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to support the rewetting of peatlands which have been degraded by drainage and peat extraction in line with the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2017-2021; if such rewetting, planned or under consideration, will be incentivised and or supported by funding mechanisms in view of the restored biodiversity value, restored carbon storage and sequestration value and restored water management value; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47566/18]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2017-2021, we have a plan to restore our degraded peatlands. What are the Department's plans in that regard, given the benefits we get from restoration of wildlife, storage of carbon, management of floodwaters, filtering water and creating amenities? What plans does the Minister have for her Department to engage in this hugely beneficial activity for our whole country?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. The National Biodiversity Action Plan 2017-2021 includes action 6.1.5, which is to implement the national peatland strategy, and action 6.1.6, which is to implement the National Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation Management Plan 2017-2022. That plan was published in December 2017 and sets out how the raised bog special areas of conservation are to be managed, conserved and restored and how the needs of turf cutters are to be addressed. The national restoration programme for Ireland's raised bog special areas of conservation and natural heritage areas is contained within this plan. It is intended to restore all designated raised bogs within three cycles, with the first cycle operating for the duration of this management plan. Site specific conservation objectives have been published for the 53 raised bog special areas of conservation and restoration plans have been drafted for all sites to be developed further in partnership with stakeholders, including landowners and local communities. Site-specific restoration plans for the raised bog natural heritage areas are also being developed by my Department.

To help allay concerns relating to the potential impacts of restoration on areas of land adjacent to the designated bogs, my Department is in the process of developing drainage management plans for the special area of conservation sites as part of the national restoration programme. Work on this programme has already begun with a €5.4 million project called The Living Bog which is funded under the EU L’Instrument Financier pour l’Environnement, LIFE, programme. My Department manages this project and contributes €1.352 million with the European Commission providing €4.56 million. The Living Bog project commenced in 2016 and will conclude at the end of 2020. It aims to restore favourable conservation conditions and increase the area for active raised bog by 277 ha, approximately 58%, on the 12 raised bog special area of conservation project sites. This will contribute to the national objective of achieving favourable conservation status for the active raised bog. Contracts are in place for drain-blocking works on six out of the 12 sites with the remainder of the contracts due to issue in early 2019.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We had an interesting presentation from Bord na Móna recently in the Joint Committee on Climate Action. The clear consensus among the scientific and climate action community is that the restoration of bogs is one of the biggest potentials for us with regard to storing carbon and has co-benefits in protecting wildlife and so on. Bord na Móna made the case that it is only responsible for 80,000 ha and the large volume of private bogs also had this potential to provide a real return to the State. I welcome the details set out of The Living Bog scheme. As much as those 12 projects are welcome, the scale of opportunity we have here to restore habitats and store carbon must receive many multiples of the €1.352 million allocated. The Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform acknowledged in our committee yesterday that there needs to be a radical increase in the ambition and level of activity by the State in the area of storing carbon. Could the Minister use that to get her Department to see an increase of a multiple of the funding currently available for local, private landowners outside Bord na Móna to ramp up our activity in this regard given the critical loss of habitat, the critical state of our natural habitats and the urgency to restore bogs to store carbon. Is the Minister looking at ramping up that level of activity to learn the lessons from the pilot schemes that are in place?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Bord na Móna is a commercial State body which I understand is transitioning from its original remit to develop the peat resource in parts of Ireland to more renewable and sustainable businesses. It is under the remit of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, so I have no direct role in this regard but my Department will continue to liaise with representatives from Bord na Móna with regard to the implementation of the national peatlands strategy and the National Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation Management Plan 2017-2022. The carbon emissions avoided by the 3,000 cutters in receipt of compensation for that would be much more significant than the domestic emissions from the 67 cutters who have been relocated to date. There is something duplicitous about the suggestion that our Government's position on this is preposterous. On this watch, the Government has changed what we are doing. The enhanced carbon sequestration in the ten bogs being rehabilitated under the live programme and the 53 that will ultimately be saved will dwarf any limited, negligible emissions from the domestic fires of relocated turf cutters.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I am not sure where the words "duplicitous" or "preposterous" came from. I did not use those words in my contribution. I am not sure what the Minister is referring to. I fully accept and made the same point that Bord na Móna is a separate issue and has a huge task. I wish it well as it sets about it. In the areas where the Minister has responsibility and the ability to scale up supports given to private landowners to engage in the sort of activity that is starting under The Living Bog programme, could she not use the opportunity we have with the renewed focus on climate change and the need to engage in carbon abatement and storage to get a more significant contribution from the State to support those private landowners to do what needs to be done to rewet the bogs? We have to be careful about how we do it, blocking drains and such. Will the Minister scale up the ambition or supports that her Department gives for that kind of activity because of the increased understanding of the benefits it would bring?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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We are scaling up what we are doing with the bogs. The Living Bog project provides for restoration incentives, including compensation, voluntary land purchase and management land agreements under the protected raised bog incentive scheme, which is operating on a pilot basis this year. It would also provide for sensitively designated amenities at a small number of project sites, such as walking trails and signage. There is also a review of the raised bog natural heritage area network, which was published in January 2014 and concluded that Ireland could more effectively achieve conservation of threatened raised bog habitat through focus protection and restoration of a reconfigured network. This entails the cessation from 1 January 2017 of turf-cutting on 36 existing natural heritage areas which will remain designated. This includes seven sites to be divided, with part to be conserved and part designated. I appreciate the Deputy's points. We have to do all we can to ensure that we look after this area.