Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take exception to the comment that most of us who have put our names to this Bill are being cynical. I am not in any way cynical. I am here to represent the people of my area. That is the job of every public representative.

I welcome the Bill and am delighted to have put my signature to it. I compliment Senators Gallagher and Doherty on their work on it.

I am from Longford, which has seen the shutdown of the Lough Ree power station. A consequence of that was the closure of Bord na Móna's Mountdillon site, causing significant job losses. I am chairperson of the county tourism committee. For many years, I have been one of the strongest proponents of developing what we term the mid-Shannon wilderness park as a natural amenity of 20,000 acres of rehabilitated bogland. I support its development and believe it could be an economic driver for our community.

The area of peatland that is relevant to the horticultural industry only represents 0.12% of total Irish peatlands and is a fraction of what we previously harvested. The impact of imported peat undermines Ireland's commitment to global climate action. A recent study by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine estimated that the horticultural industry was worth €477 million, the fourth largest industry in terms of gross agricultural commodity output. It also provides up to 17,000 jobs.

A number of Members have met various IFA groups, farm interest groups and so on about this matter. They acknowledge the situation but they are seeking emergency legislation. They want the Department to explore the legislative avenues for the replacement of the dual consent system for large-scale commercial peat extraction by a new consent system similar to those in place in other EU countries, ensure that the just transition fund is available in the short term to compensate the industry, and provide funding to enable research and development to be carried out on reduced peat and peat-free growing media. No one is against the route we are taking. The farming industry and I politically understand the reason, but we need a dual system to get us to the point where our growing media can produce the horticulture that we need without having to use peat. This Bill does that.

Over the past number of months, we have had politicians from all parties and groups expressing their opposition to Ireland becoming dependent on imported peat. The Bill complies with EU law. To take up Senator Kyne's point, how could the Bill not be compliant with EU law if it is compliant for us to import from Latvia? I cannot get my head around that.

I give my full support to the Bill that has been introduced by the two parties. I understand why there might be opposition to it, but it is a time-sensitive Bill that means to get us to the point at which we can find an alternative. That is a workable solution.