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

Ms Anna Kavanagh: I agree with Mr. Dunne. Even the bog he mentioned would not be used for horticulture. I am pretty confident that Bord na Móna has finished the supply of horticultural peat. Deputy Fitzmaurice asked about research and development and whether it would take five to ten years or whatever else. It is difficult to answer that question. Going on my experience in the UK,...

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

Mr. Kieran Dunne: I certainly can. It is not my view that Bord na Móna is not moving any peat. That statement came from Bord na Móna at an IFA meeting. The only peat Bord na Móna has at the moment is for briquettes. It is fuel peat, not horticultural-grade peat. I know this from walking the bogs and from the officials in Bord na Móna. Horticultural peat can be...

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

Mr. Mel O'Rourke: I will go back to the questions from Senators Boyhan and Daly about peat for the mushroom industry and alternatives. The mushroom industry is based on having a high-quality compost and a thin layer of peat on top of that compost to grow the mushrooms. The industry has been successful. People talk about the horticulture industry in general when it should be divided into...

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

...today that our primary concern is the Irish horticultural industry. The Deputy said that he was listening and he may have heard Ms Kavanagh and Mr. Dunne explain it is not all the same type of peat from all types of bogs. Some people may export some peat for the hobby market or they may export primarily to the North of Ireland. Some of the peat that goes to the latter comes back into...

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

Mr. Kieran Dunne: Correct. That goes to the Deputy's point on the sub 30 ha. If someone has sub 30 ha, that is, 75 acres, is it not a good news story that the rest of his or her peatland would be reinstated and he or she could harvest that area? Is that not common sense? We have removed more than 90% of harvesting through Bord na Móna exiting the industry. A comment was made about...

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

Michael Collins: ...In light of the 30% to 50% increase in costs and reduced quality, many growers believe that will go out of business. There is no transition plan for the industry. I ask the witnesses to explain why peat is being exported from Ireland while Irish growers have to purchase raw material from abroad at huge additional carbon footprint, which puts the Irish grower, especially small...

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

Paul Daly: I welcome our guests. Like Senator Boyhan, I condole with them on their plight. I see the pure ridiculousness and stupidity of it. I know hauliers who are hauling peat from Drogheda down to the south of the country. We have this climate change and climate action debate in these Houses on a regular basis. The one key message is the bringing of people with us and having buy-in from the...

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

Ms Anna Kavanagh: The Senator covered a lot of topics there. I hope I get to all of them. Peat is the best growing medium and that is why we have been using it for decades. Irish peat is the best in the world. We have seen that over the decades because people have wanted it. It is medium-decomposed peat and has the best air and water properties. It has a high lignin content so it is...

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

Matt Carthy: ...that when the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, was challenged by me and others in the Dáil on the solution, he volunteered that it was the importation of peat from third countries. That is a lunatic position. It is lunacy in economic terms for the operation of the farms I mentioned but even from an environmental perspective, if environmental and...

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

Michael Ring: I thought the environment was a world problem. Whether peat is got in Latvia or any other country, does it make any difference? Why should we import a product that we have in plentiful supply in this country? I have listened to this debate and I listened to other debates. The guests are welcome. Their industry has been attacked, like a lot of other industries around this country, because...

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...

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

Brian Leddin: ...Mr. Dunne 's point that this is not an easy fix, although it is nonetheless urgent. This was signalled perhaps two years ago, when Bord na Móna, for commercial reasons, ended horticultural peat extract. Might more have been done then in order that we would not find ourselves in this position now? I am open to being educated by the witnesses. Is it simply the case that the...

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

Victor Boyhan: ...this issue quite extensively. I am very supportive of the horticulture sector and particularly the witnesses' sector. It is grossly unfair and hypocrisy at its best to talk about bringing in peat or substitute peat from the Baltic states, such as vermiculite, cocoa shells and so forth. We know they simply do not work. We know from the Teagasc representatives who appeared before the...

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

Tim Lombard: ...centre. I welcome the contributions, which have been informative and given us a great view of the crisis in the industry. The timelines are frightening. By next September, we could be out of peat, which would have an impact on many parts of the horticulture industry. We have spoken about the working group and the long-term goal of moving the industry in a slightly different...

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

Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed)

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

Jackie Cahill: ...are visible to all participants. Speaking slots are prioritised for members of the committee. The topic for this meeting with representatives from Growing Media Ireland, GMI, is the impact of peat shortages on the horticulture industry. I welcome Mr. John Neenan, chair of GMI, Mr. Kieran Dunne, Kildare Growers Group, Mr. Mel O'Rourke, Commercial Mushroom Producers, and Ms Anna...

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

...report, but it was not unanimous. NGOs such as Friends of the Irish Environment, An Taisce and one or two more basically wrote their own report. The interim report effectively recommended that peat harvesting continue throughout 2021 under emergency legislation and that legislation on a single system from 2022 onwards be introduced. I am not a legal eagle, but our legal people have...

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

...In December 2018, operators learned that this difficulty would not be resolved by an appeal to the Court of Appeal. In January 2019, they learned the State had resolved the difficulty by removing peat harvesting from planning control and transferring the responsibility to the Environmental Protection Agency. In October 2019, the court ruled that the legislation was not correct and that...

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

Paul Kehoe: ...told me the story to be absolutely 100% right. Mr. Dunne has confirmed this now. It is a scandal that Department officials and Ministers would stand idly by while we have thousands of tonnes of peat stockpiled ready to be used and people are not allowed to cross the bog to access it. I find it ludicrous. Maybe if they used helicopters they might be able to bring it in or perhaps they...

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

Ms Anna Kavanagh: On the just transition, that has been mentioned at meetings because of the extra costs and everything else that will be faced in this regard by growers, peat producers and everyone involved in the industry. Therefore, this aspect has been taken on board and one of our suggestions is that a just transition fund should be made available. We asked that the Minister with...