Results 1-20 of 54 for peat speaker:Malcolm Noonan

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Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Climate Change Advisory Council (25 Jun 2025)

Malcolm Noonan: .... The nature restoration plan is in train. Is there tracking looking at the higher ambition of the nature restoration plan to meet all of the articled requirements in terms of rewetting peat soils and woodlands, etc? Is that being given consideration in the context of potential for carbon sequestration? The witnesses are also right to say the land use plan needs to be brought forward...

Seanad: Forestry Sector: Statements (29 Apr 2025)

Malcolm Noonan: ...up the phone straight away and dealt with the issue. I do appreciate that. I know he has a busy portfolio. I am going to raise a couple of points and questions. A number of Members mentioned peat slides. One of the first tasks I had as Minister of State was to travel to Drumkeeran in County Leitrim in 2020 when the bog slide took place at Shass Mountain. Watching 25-year-old Sitka...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Turf Cutting (5 Nov 2024)

Malcolm Noonan: ...with the provisions of Regulation 28 of the 2011 Regulations or with the consent of the relevant authority. The NHA’s under the CTCCS are designated by a Natural Heritage Area order under Section 18(1) of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000, as amended (“the Act of 2000”). Peat extraction (being a type of work specified in a Natural Heritage Area order for the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks and Wildlife Service (5 Nov 2024)

Malcolm Noonan: ...activity and functions all of which support the overall goal of protecting nature. For county Kildare specifically, funding for conservation is delivered through a variety of channels, including through peatlands restoration and conservation programmes. Just under €3m has been paid out to date by the NPWS in Kildare to applicants under the Turf Cutting Compensation Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Turbary Rights (25 Jun 2024)

Malcolm Noonan: ...is designated as an Special Area of Conservation under Statutory Instrument No. 329 of 2023. Schedule 4 of this Statutory Instrument states that all activities relating to turf cutting and/or peat extraction – with the exception of continued domestic turf cutting from existing turf banks- in this SAC require the permission of the Minister before they can be carried out. Where...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Turbary Rights (28 May 2024)

Malcolm Noonan: ...Instrument 386/22, which provides for the designation of the site at Lough Nillan Bog (Carrickatlieve) as a Special Area of Conservation, states that all activities relating to turf cutting and/or peat extraction – with the exception of continued domestic turf cutting from existing turf banks – on Lough Nillan Bog (Carrickatlieve) SAC (000165) require the permission of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks and Wildlife Service (20 Mar 2024)

Malcolm Noonan: ...to favourable conservation status. This is done by restoring the water table to a level where the bog is wet enough to support the growth of sphagnum moss, which assists in the formation of peat. It is important to note that the restoration of peatlands, including bogs, at an adequate scale can help reduce flooding in their catchments, as their capacity to hold water and release it...

Nature Restoration Law: Statements (7 Mar 2024)

Malcolm Noonan: .... This includes at national, regional or sectoral levels. The Government is confident that the 2030 and 2040 rewetting targets, at a minimum, can be met entirely on State lands. This is worth repeating: we are confident that the 2030 and 2040 targets can be met on State lands. More analysis is needed to establish how far we can go towards the 2050 rewetting targets on public land. It...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: EU Regulations (7 Dec 2023)

Malcolm Noonan: .... If the Regulation is approved, Member States will then need to develop and implement National Restoration Plans. The proposed Regulation provides that restoration targets relating to drained peatlands, including rewetting, can be achieved across a range of areas including former industrial peat extraction sites and other drained peatlands. In Ireland, this means that the targets set...

Nature Restoration Law: Motion [Private Members] (5 Jul 2023)

Malcolm Noonan: ...that it is not the Government's intention to cause division by tabling a countermotion. I really appreciate the constructive engagement the Deputy has consistently shown down the years with the peatlands in particular. I thank Deputy Harkin as well for tabling this. We need unity on this across the House. I have had good engagement over the weekend with most of our MEPs. I have not...

Forestry Strategy: Statements (26 Jan 2023)

Malcolm Noonan: ...in the forestry strategy for nature, and I welcome the provisions to expand substantially the native woodland cover, ensure more diverse mixes of species, address legacy impacts, restore afforested peatlands and support closer to nature forest management. We have work to do across government to ensure robust ecological assessment procedures to safeguard habitats and species of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Environmental Policy (1 Dec 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: ...of soil-based emissions is important to deliver the reductions in the overall carbon balance and the Department has delivered several projects to address knowledge deficits in this area. The RePEAT project will help to accurately identify the extent of organic soils under agricultural management while investment in European innovation projects in the midlands will seek to develop a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Horticulture Sector (15 Nov 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: ...who has responsibility for Horticulture at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, published the series of actions developed to support Irish horticultural growers who are dependent on peat. The Working Paper setting out the Series of Actions can be found at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/39315-working-paper-to-address-cha...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Jun 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: ...projects like that is also an enforcement matter on which I cannot comment. Comments were made by Senator Higgins regarding other elements that could impact negatively on the environment such as peat extraction and forestry. As an aside to this, the Attorney General is involved in a review of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has initiated a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Bord na Móna (7 Apr 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: It is good to get a question relating to my Department. I will set out the vision of Ireland's national peatlands strategy, which is "to provide a long-term framework within which all of the peatlands within the State can be managed responsibly in order to optimise their social, environmental and economic contribution to the well-being of this and future generations". The strategy sets out...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Horticulture Sector (10 Mar 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: The Working Group referred to by the Deputy, was established following a series of High Court decisions which determined that large-scale peat harvesting requires planning permission and licensing by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Working Group was tasked in particular with examining the potential of alternatives to peat for the horticultural industry. Following on from the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Bord na Móna (3 Mar 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: The Enhanced Decommissioning Rehabilitation and Restoration Scheme (EDRRS) approved by the Government in November 2020 encompasses work on approximately 33,000 hectares of Bord na Móna peatlands previously harvested for peat extraction for electricity generation. €108 million National Recovery and Resilience funding for the project has been approved for this large-scale peatlands...

Seanad: Horticultural Peat (Temporary Measures) Bill 2021: Second Stage (30 Nov 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: ...the House outline the challenges facing the sector. It is a sector that I worked in for many years as a landscape gardener and one that I truly value, but as an environmentalist, I also value our peatlands. To respond to Senator Doherty, who introduced the Bill and opened the debate, nobody is against fixing this. We are all in favour of fixing it. We have advice from the Office of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Horticulture Sector (30 Nov 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: My statutory remit and responsibility as Minister does not include regulation of the harvesting or supply of horticultural peat. However, to assist in addressing the important issues around horticultural peat for domestic purposes, I set up an Independent Working Group under the Chair of Dr. Munoo Prasad. The potential of alternatives to the use of peat moss in the horticultural industry was...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wind Energy Guidelines (25 Nov 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: ...or locations in the local development plan where wind farm development may be considered, as well as in subsequently determining applications for planning permissions. It is acknowledged that peatlands, in particular, can be damaged by the inappropriate siting of wind energy developments on associated infrastructure, including the construction of new or improved access roads....