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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticultural Industry: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (21 Sep 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: ...the green agenda. It is not the green agenda; it is the law. That is the reality of this. My Department, which has responsibility for heritage, has no role in this except in the sense that the peatlands strategy, specifically recommendation No. 5 of the strategy, was to establish this working group to look at alternatives. We took up that challenge in September 2020 and acted very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticultural Industry: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (21 Sep 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: ...Irish context. In saying this, I address Deputy Carthy as well. It was never my preference for importation to be an option. It is certainly a less favourable option environmentally when quality peat exists in this country but the law is the law. We have to try to figure out a solution that works in an Irish context. We have spoken about the issue Deputy Fitzmaurice raised, that of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticultural Industry: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (21 Sep 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: ...amount of time regardless. I give our commitment and that of the Government that we will continue to work collectively to try to move towards those alternatives. There are nurseries out there using peat alternatives, and there nurseries throughout the world and growers in other areas that are able to use peat alternatives. There are options. I reiterate the point raised by Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticultural Industry: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (21 Sep 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an gcoiste. I thank the committee for its time this afternoon. Peatlands have been one of the most abiding features of the Irish landscape since the last ice age. They cover a large area of the land surface, occurring as raised bogs, blanket bogs and fens. Peatlands have a key biodiversity value and provide a range of ecosystem services....