Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for bringing this very important issue to the House. I appreciate the importance of the mushroom sector in Ireland, particularly in the Senator's own area of Monaghan. My Department has no involvement in the regulation of peat extraction. This is a planning process under the remit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and an integrated pollution control, IPC, licence process under the remit of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. It is important to point out that there is no harvesting ban on peat. Rather there is a requirement for compliance with regulatory frameworks for the abstraction, which requires both planning and IPC licensing depending on circumstances.

Regarding the future use of peat moss in the horticulture sector, last September, the Minister of State with responsibility for heritage and electoral reform, Deputy Noonan, published a report on the review of the use of peat moss in the horticultural industry. The review report was prepared by an inter-agency working group following on from the submissions from stakeholders. After the publication of this report, the Minister of State proposed the establishment of a working group to include representatives from relevant Departments and State agencies, environmental NGOs and industry stakeholders under an independent chairperson to examine the issues identified during the review. The working group has been set up and has met many times. It has addressed the key issues raised in the report itself, including future use of peat by the horticulture sector. The first meeting of the independent working group took place on 4 March. The group has met several times since then and has submitted an interim report to the Minister of State for his consideration. The Minister of State and his officials are currently examining the report. I understand the Minister of State wrote to the working group in the past week or so.

In addition to these developments, my Department is actively looking at alternatives to peat and has funded two research projects to date. It has also recently sought further research be conducted here to explore alternatives to peat-based growing media for horticultural production in this area in its latest research call for 2021. These must be available, affordable and sustainable and meet quality as well as increasing environmental requirements.

My Department also provides a support to the horticulture industry through the scheme of investment aid for the development of the horticulture sector. Financial support is available to assist growers and businesses through grant aid for capital investments in specialised plant and equipment, including renewable energy, as well as technology adoption specific to commercial horticulture production. The budget has increased to €9 million, which is a 50% increase, for 2021. This particular budget is always oversubscribed. It is really successfully. This scheme is 100% funded by the Irish Government.

In addition, my Department administers the EU producer organisation scheme for fruit and vegetables, which allows growers to jointly market their production in order to strengthen the position of producers in the marketplace. This scheme is a significant support to the mushroom sector in Ireland.