Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

When we discussed this previously, the Minister acknowledged that many areas tended to be large contiguous territory, which is one of the advantages of the newly designated areas, but many of the areas to be de-designated are, in fact, small. I know many people with less than 10 ha, although that does not mean there is no commercial usage. Another approach might be to outlaw certain kinds of machinery. I will not suggest people go back to using the slean to cut turf but sausage machines are used in small areas and move from area to area and such machinery may be rented for a period. The Minister has indicated that areas of 5 ha, 6 ha or 7 ha may be the ones to be de-designated but if they become a patchwork of areas for harvesting, there is a problem. These are key questions and the Minister needs to have the information about these areas if he is giving himself the power to make decisions about de-designation while balancing community, social, environmental and cultural factors. We discussed the scientific information he will need but he also needs regulatory information. The environmental impact of de-designation is different as between one which comes under a regulatory framework and one which does not. The regulatory framework matters, as we discussed in the context of the pollinator plan.

The Minister said a regulatory framework was being developed but I am sure he will see that there is an area of concern with that so we need a lot more clarity about what the framework will look like. The Minister may be able to achieve the goals without using such a bald term as "commercial turf harvesting", for example, by indicating what forms of harvesting are appropriate. This comes back to the question of turbary rights and what we define as household use, recognising that households are different. It is not simply a free-form interpretation. When we de-designate a bog under 10 ha and state that it is no longer a natural heritage area, it should not fall into being an area of unregulated usage. There needs to be some kind of bar set.I will retable the amendments on Report Stage.