Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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6. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the impact, if any, the flooding of the bogs in the midlands will have on flood attenuation in the Shannon catchment; the progress to date on re-wetting the Bord na Móna bogs across the Shannon catchment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55770/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Enhanced Decommissioning, Rehabilitation and Restoration Scheme (EDRRS) is a five-year programme, currently in its second year of operation. The EDRRS was established in 2020 as part of the Just Transition and it is sponsored by my Department and regulated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), with Bord Na Móna acting as the operators of the scheme. The EDRRS provides for the enhanced rehabilitation of 33,000 hectares of Bord na Móna peatlands that had been previously harvested for peat extraction for electricity generation. All of the lands being rehabilitated are operated under Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licences granted by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the EDRRS is building on, and complementing, the measures required under IPC licences. The rehabilitation works will take place on 82 bogs over a 5-year period and will improve ecological and hydrological conditions, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reinstate carbon sequestration conditions over time.

As of the end of September 2022, 10,183 hectares of bog have been rehabilitated with the projected total rehabilitation to completed by the end of December 2022 being 12,200 hectares. Across the Shannon catchment, approximately 6,500 hectares have been rehabilitated to date.

The rehabilitation of degraded peatlands to a condition in which they regain their ability to deliver specific ecosystem services has considerable potential for initial mitigation gains and future carbon sequestration. Additional benefits of peatland restoration include positive socio-economic outcomes for the Midlands, increased natural capital, enriched biodiversity, improved water quality and flood attenuation. In time, the rehabilitation measures being undertaken will return the natural water retention function on these degraded peatlands, and it is generally anticipated that this will provide increased attenuation for intense rainfall events, as water will be slower to leave the bog.