Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It will not be easy to follow the buzz my two colleagues to my left have created in the Chamber this morning but I will do my best.

I thank the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, for taking time out of her busy schedule to be here this morning for this very important debate on the imminent crisis facing the horticultural sector due to the restrictions on agricultural peat harvesting. The mushroom industry is the largest horticultural sector in Ireland with a farm gate value of €119 million, of which approximately 85% is exported to the UK. It employs over 3,500 people. County Monaghan is well known for its indigenous industry. One of the most successful of these local industries is the mushroom sector, which employs hundreds and hundreds of people and supports local farms and businesses and by extension, many local communities. The sector is crucial to the economy, particularly in the north of County Monaghan. However, the industry now faces a significant, and in my opinion unneeded, challenge at a time when it faces the consequences of both Brexit and Covid. A ban on peat harvesting will have a very serious impact on the mushroom industry in County Monaghan. The industry is heavily reliant on high-grade peat and there is currently no viable alternative to horticultural peat. If peat is not available here in Ireland, the mushroom industry will be forced to import it from the Baltic states or from northern Europe at a huge cost both in financial terms to the industry and in the form of the higher carbon footprint of transporting that peat into the country.

What sense is there in damaging a successful local industry for little or no environmental gain? It seems to be a case of cutting off our environmental noses to spite our face. To put things in perspective, there are 1.5 million ha of peatland in Ireland of which only 5,500 ha, approximately, are used for horticultural peat. That is less than 0.35%. Mushroom-casing peat represents a small fraction of this and probably as little as 10 ha to 15 ha annually. The Minister must introduce measures to ensure the resumption of the harvesting of horticultural peat for the mushroom industry to avoid a shortage this year, as well as a measures to financially incentivise the use of spent mushroom compost. We need a fair and efficient system which can allow horticultural peat harvesting to continue while the environmental alternatives to peat are researched and scaled up. I acknowledge the great work done by Monaghan Mushrooms on this, which is ongoing. All the sector is looking for is a just transition structure. The door is not closed to this but the sector needs time to assess the environmental, economic and employment benefits of such a measure. I urge the Minister of State to take these issues on board because the mushroom industry is hugely important to County Monaghan. If anything was to happen to it, or if it was to be damaged in any way, it would have serious consequences for the whole north Monaghan economy.