Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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200. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 262 of 7 December 2017 and 631 of 27 March 2018, when the European Union (Licensing of Large-Scale Extraction of Peat) Regulations 2016 will be commenced; the status of interactions to date between his Department, the EPA and the Office of the Attorney General in relation to the regulations; the outstanding issues which are delaying matters; if stakeholders have been briefed on delays on enacting the regulations; if his attention has been drawn to the urgency to address this issue ahead of impending harvesting months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19207/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the concerns of commercial peat operators arising from the recent High Court judgment in relation to the planning status of peat extraction. Industry representatives and other relevant stakeholder groups were included in the October 2016 stakeholder consultation undertaken by my Department in relation to the development of the draft European Union (Licensing of Large-Scale Extraction of Peat) Regulations and further stakeholder consultation is not required at this point.

My Department is presently actively progressing the finalisation of the drafting of the Regulations, in consultation with the Environment Protection Agency, with a view to putting in place as speedily as possible a robust and effective legislative underpinning for the proposed new regulatory system for the large-scale peat extraction sector.