Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. He may remember this time last year I raised in a Commencement debate a matter related to horticultural peat, which he addressed. It is a matter of sadness that a year later we are having essentially the same debate. There is at least a heightened sense of urgency and willingness to do something about the issue, more or less because of the Bill.

I am very pleased to co-sponsor the Bill. I and many others have spoken on numerous occasions about the ridiculous situation in the horticultural peat industry, which is a vital component of the horticultural nursery and mushroom industry. Those in the business, including many in County Kildare, need clarity on how they are to proceed. We are discussing horticultural peat again because there has been no action to date.

Kildare is the second most affected county in terms of job loss impact as a result of the ending of peat harvesting for power generation in the midlands region. We are also at a significant disadvantage, as we have a shortage of suitable sites to establish new green enterprises that could replace the labour-intensive work of peat extraction. This directly affects many people in south-west Kildare around Rathangan, Allenwood, Carbury, Kilberry and just over the border into counties Laois and Offaly.

In my previous contribution on this issue, I spoke about the ridiculous situation that large shipments of horticultural peat were beginning to be imported and how the first 4,000 tonnes of peat had been shipped from Latvia, causing significant carbon emissions. That was a 3,000 km journey by ship, in addition to 200 trucks to transport the peat to the port in Latvia and unload it in Ireland. Until a viable alternative is sourced, we would require a shipment every two weeks for a decade to meet the existing demand. It makes no sense. We cannot allow this to continue. We need an interim solution such as the one suggested in the Bill. The horticulture industry has been crying out for a solution for about a year and a half at this stage. It has campaigned very effectively. It is time for the nine relevant Ministers and all other Oireachtas Members to step up to the plate and find a solution.

We all know we need to tackle climate change and that tough decisions must be made to meet our obligations, but we are cancelling one carbon-heavy process and replacing it with another more expensive and more awkward alternative. We must support jobs in green industry and in the growing industry. There is a world of difference between burning peat for electricity and using it for growing produce. There should be a derogation for the industry.