Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The environmental criteria that will be used in any review of blanket bogs will be the same as used for raised bogs. There are no immediate plans. A lot of expertise has been gathered over the recent period on methodology and process as to raised bogs, which would be transferred to any review of blanket bogs. The Senator has mentioned 12 years and I have mentioned four to five years of consultation. How we have done that and what we have learned from that will be transposed to how we deal with any reviews that we are obliged to do on SACs, but it will also encompass natural heritage areas, NHAs, as part of the overall package. I have met officials on this, and what we have seen with blanket bogs is that they are not all the same. There are areas that are more degraded and other areas that are relatively pristine. We want to transfer the knowledge that we have gleaned from the review of the raised bogs to dealing with the blanket bogs. I have been very cognisant of our obligations under European legislation and the fact that, as we are aware, there is a critical role in climate mitigation within which bogs have a very special place. Senator Ó Céidigh spoke last week about the special place that they have in parts of Connemara and elsewhere, an important role in climate change which we all appreciate.

Where the debate five or six years ago was all about designations and the perception that big bad Europe was trying to force us to do this, the debate in the future about bogs will be about the very important role they play in carbon sequestration and mitigating against climate change. This is where the debate is going. Anything that is being done on blanket bogs will be mirrored by what we have done on raised bogs in the same process and procedure.