Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a year since I had a Commencement matter on this topic. Part of the problem is that there was a different Minister from a different Department. That cuts to the heart of this issue, namely, that it cuts across too many Departments and one person is not taking charge of the industry and what needs to be done. I met Kieran Dunne and Larry Doran from County Kildare Growers and was horrified by what I learned about the impact this would have on the horticulture sector. It impacts 6,600 jobs directly and 11,000 other jobs will also be impacted.

I and many others have several times over the past 12 months raised this issue in the House. To be perfectly honest, we have been fobbed off and have been sent from one Department to another, from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and have been between four different Ministers. It is time to call for a halt to that.

This is an emergency and crisis. Senator Higgins said it was not an emergency, but it is. Something has to be done about this. We know the Irish horticultural industry makes a very significant contribution to the Irish economy, apart from all of those who are employed within it. The farm gate value was €437 million in 2018 and exports were worth €239 million. I imagine they are conservative figures.

We are not talking about a huge amount of peatland. Under 5% of Irish peatlands are under production. That is about 0.4% of the total amount of Irish peatlands. As we know, the current process is that horticultural peat harvesting requires planning permission and a licence from the EPA, which can take between four and six years. This is hugely disproportionate. The process is very burdensome and is completely wrong. We could have a situation whereby many of our home industries could close because of that.

Given the indigenous supply of peat in Ireland, it is incredible to think that those in the industry have to import peat from Lithuania and Holland. This morning I spoke to Brendan Guilfoyle from Kildare who told me he is importing peat from Scotland. The lorry that delivers his peat goes back to Northern Ireland. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that in trying to balance climate change and what needs to be done about peat that we are encouraging the importation of peat from other parts of Europe which has travels thousands of miles and costs up to four times what Irish peat costs. We are talking about a green industry and peat that would be used to grow mushrooms, food, nursery plants and trees, which will also help with climate change.

It is unacceptable and hypocritical to ban the use of peat in Ireland for horticultural products and then import it from another EU member state or a third country. I know what happened in the mushroom industry many years ago because my family was in the business at the time. Those growing mushroom, plants and strawberries could be at a competitive and financial disadvantage. People and industry could be put out of business.

This issue needs to be revisited. Action needs to be taken. Fine Gael has been in government for the past ten years and I am disappointed that it did not do more in the lead up to this. Bord na Móna is part of the problem because while it had to commit to cease peat harvesting, it made a decision two years before it had to on supplying peat to the horticulture industry. A lot has to be done. I know from the opening remarks of the Minister of State that he understands this, and understands the importance to his constituency and mine, but we need action soon. A derogation for those who need horticultural peat is required.