Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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277. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he has been consulted by the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government on proposed changes to the planning status of large scale community extraction; and if he has provided his views in response regarding the impact such changes could have on the carbon sequestration and storage functions of peatlands. [23700/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Large scale peat extraction in Ireland is currently carried out under the Planning Acts, which are the primary responsibility of the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. It is proposed that large scale peat extraction will move from the planning regime to become an activity that is licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is an independent agency under the remit of my Department.

As well as other key stakeholders, both my Department and the Agency have engaged on an on-going basis with the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in relation to the development of the necessary legislation to give effect to this change of approach. My Department’s primary focus is on the environmental aspects, and the practical and licensing implications arising for the EPA, from this change

I understand that the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government  anticipates that the legislation will be finalised in the coming months, and my Department and the EPA will continue to engage in this context.

It should be noted that the fact that the consent regime for large scale peat extraction is changing should not inherently give rise to direct implications for changes affecting the sequestration potential or the storage function of peatlands.