Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator McFadden for raising this important issue. I welcome the opportunity to clarify a number of issues regarding the future of turf cutting in Ireland and to confirm that turf cutting can continue as normal on most bogs. It is only on the relatively small area of designated peatlands that cutting must cease to preserve what remains of our best bogland for future generations.

Ireland's raised bogs are of European importance. Almost all of western Europe's bogs have disappeared or have been severely damaged. Ireland has approximately 60% of the remaining uncut areas. Here too, however, most areas of bog have been severely damaged, mainly by turf cutting but, in more recent times, by afforestation and overgrazing. Less than 1% remains of Ireland's active raised bogs, bog on which the indigenous flora are still growing and forming peat.

This bogland is a priority habitat under the EU habitats directive, and, in accordance with Articles 2 and 4 of the directive, must be protected and, where possible, restored. Under the directive, Ireland nominated certain raised and blanket bogs which are priority natural habitats as candidate special areas of conservation, SACs. Ireland also designated other raised and blanket bogs as natural heritage areas, NHAs, under the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000.

When arrangements were announced in 1999 for cessation of turf cutting on bogs designated for conservation, a ten-year derogation was granted to domestic turf cutters. This period is now coming to an end on 32 designated raised bogs. A similar ten-year derogation applies to bogs designated after 1999. When NHAs were designated in 2004, under an agreement with the farming organisations, a similar ten-year derogation was put in place allowing cutting on NHAs until 2014.

In the meantime, a review of the state of our bogs has revealed severe and continuing damage by domestic turf cutting. In the ten years since commercial cutting was ended in designated areas, 35% of the remaining area of this priority EU habitat has been lost through domestic cutting. Damage is continuing at a rate of 2% to 4% per annum. The overall scientific assessment of this habitat is described as "unfavourable" and "bad", the worst of three standard categories applied at European level. It is clear that we must now take measures to ensure improvement, and in the light of the scientific evidence, it would not be appropriate to extend the ten-year derogation.

Since 1999, the Government has actively encouraged the cessation of domestic cutting by buying traditional turf cutting rights through a voluntary scheme of compensation. This covers both SACs and NHAs. It will be necessary, however, to bring forward proposals in the short term to ensure Ireland meets its obligations regarding the protection of at least a key portion of what remains of this important natural heritage.