Results 1-18 of 18 for peat speaker:Joe Flaherty

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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Joe Flaherty: ...about the sector at present. We need to send a very strong message. I fear we are not delivering that as a Government. Does the Minister of State accept that the new rules on the 30 cm maximum peat depth remove large areas of potential forestry land and will have a major impact on the afforestation rate? What is the scientific benefit, if any, of moving from 45 cm of peat to 30 cm?

Environmental Protection Agency Water Quality Report 2022: Statements (28 Jun 2023)

Joe Flaherty: ...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...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Consolidation in Horticultural Grower Numbers: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Joe Flaherty: On peat, there was a court case in the midlands earlier in June where the EPA had taken three growers to court. It was a major win for the producers in that the court established that three boglands were not technically and hydrologically connected. The EPA has continued to contend its flawed claim that bogland is hydrologically linked but unfortunately for it, it was unable to produce any...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Regulation on Nature Restoration: European Commission (18 Jan 2023)

Joe Flaherty: ...binding. At the same time, as many members have told the director, this has caused a large amount of disquiet and anxiety. I am conscious of time and I wish to home in on the section on drained peatland under agricultural use, because that primarily affects me. I come from Longford, where we have paid a massive price for just transition. We have seen the escalation and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank Mr. Boland for coming before the committee and for providing a very good report. Anything that can break the impasse we have in the peat sector at the moment must be commended and welcomed. I will hone in on recommendation 1 and the exemption clarification. It states the aim of the recommendation is to restore confidence in the current procedures and to give the necessary support...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (23 Nov 2022)

Joe Flaherty: ...Irish whiskey industry is still in its infancy. In County Longford, Lough Ree Distillery started out producing gin and it is producing its first whiskey now. In terms of GI, the distillery uses peat and the River Shannon in its processes. They are key parts of its product that cannot be created anywhere else. That is why GI is so critically important for such producers and why, in the...

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (Resumed) (19 Oct 2022)

Joe Flaherty: ...if the rain fell on him. The Minister and everybody in the House is well aware that the midlands has paid a massive price with the escalation of decarbonisation and the forced closure of two peat-generated power plants and the Bord na Móna peat harvesting operation. It would be a terrible and further slight on the people of Longford if the former power station in Lanesborough was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe Flaherty: ..., but we will lay the blame on all three of them for the moment. I think the key point to take away from what the witnesses have told us is that we have now become reliant on an imported peat that is clearly of inferior quality. This committee has heard many times about the heavy price we are paying now for ash dieback as a result of an import. There is nothing to say that we are not...

Forestry Sector: Motion (11 Nov 2021)

Joe Flaherty: ...with exasperated forestry producers. These are people who would much prefer to be knee deep in a forest than standing at the gates of Leinster House. They came there to stand, just as people involved in peat came to stand, because, unfortunately, the Government, and, I will add, my Government, is failing these people. We need to completely revamp our regulation of forestry and fast-track...

Financial Resolutions 2021 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: .... The commercial rates compensation reflects the Government's commitment to working with a community that has been adversely affected by the rapid decarbonisation of the midlands and the closure of our peat-powered power plants. On the other hand, commitments were given to the people of the midlands and we were assured we would not be forgotten and that and all the necessary measures to...

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)

Joe Flaherty: I thank the Minister for coming in. I am aware our peatlands are an important ecosystem. I was lucky enough to grow up in the bog and I am lucky enough to still live on the edge of the bog. I value and appreciate what the bog did for us as a young family when we were growing up. I am appreciative of the people who worked on the bogs of Ireland over the years. We were warned time and again...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Jul 2021)

Joe Flaherty: ...Departments when we get them in before us because, in the absence of the Departments coming with another viable plan, that seems to be the only plan open to us at the moment. As for replacements for peat for the horticultural sector, we talk about all the various options but there is no proven option out there. It seems ludicrous, given the strong horticultural sector we have, to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Just Transition Fund (23 Jun 2021)

Joe Flaherty: ...the demolition plans for the two stations, and to seek compensation afterwards through the regulator. As the just transition process flounders, we are seeing an increase in imports of replacement peat and fuel products, while the horticultural peat production sector faces termination in Ireland. It is now critically important that the ESB liaises with the midlands transition groups...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Rewetting of Peatland and its Impact on Farmers: Discussion (Resumed) (25 May 2021)

Joe Flaherty: ...that factored into how the process will evolve over ten, 20 or 40 years? My final question relates to the ESB. How involved is it in this process, in particular where there has been large-scale peat production in midland areas which is now coming to an end? We all appreciate the merits of rewetting boglands. The ESB has responsibility for the control of water levels on the River...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Natural Gas Grid (18 May 2021)

Joe Flaherty: The Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, is well aware that the midlands is the battle line for decarbonisation following the fast-tracking of the closure of the Bord na Móna peat-production process. The just transition fund was introduced to compensate the midlands and help to ensure it will not be left behind, with its local economy being forced to adjust, as the rest of the country...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2021)

Joe Flaherty: ...to cease its traditional operations and that will have a devastating effect on my region. I agree that there are crazy inconsistencies in what is proposed. We are planning to cease the production of peat briquettes, and it seems there is an unfathomable supply issue at Bord na Móna in terms of its briquettes, while, at the same time, we are importing much inferior products from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

Joe Flaherty: .... The public at large misunderstands what the sector does and confuses it with Bord na Móna. It is important that the sector makes and gets heard its point that it is just looking at 1.5% of the peatlands in the country. Everybody who has done research on this sector realise that it is a successful, sensitive and progressive sector. In the midlands, specifically, we are conscious...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (10 Jun 2020)

Joe Flaherty: As a native of Leinster where peat can be found in the veins of most families, it is with a heavy heart that I accept the closure of our bogs for commercial power generation. However, that does not mean I accept the manner in which this process has been covertly fast-tracked, nor do I accept the shabby treatment of Bord na Móna workers. We are gambling a great deal on the just...