Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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97. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the progress made by the Multi-Stakeholder Working Group established to examine issues related to the use of peat moss in the horticulture sector. [46902/21]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I established the working group referred to by the Deputy, under independent chairman Dr. Munoo Prasad, to examine important issues which had been identified during the Review of the use of Peat in the Horticultural Industry. 

The working group is comprised of representatives of the relevant Government Departments, State Bodies and Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations and sectors within the horticultural industry.

Dr Prasad has held 11 meetings of the working group to date, and has had a number of presentations, from, for example, the Chair of the UK Growing Media Association, an Associate Professor at the School of Agriculture and Food Science in UCD, Teagasc and from growing media producers and horticultural industry growers.

The Chair of the Working Group has indicated to me in recent days that he will submit his Final Report to me before the end of October. This report is expected to identify possible alternatives to peat and to outline the research required to produce commercially effective alternatives for the Horticulture sector.