Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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1764. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for evidence from peatlands specialists and academics who support the continued use of the old definition of the Irish Peat Soil Map over the newly published and publicly funded map; if he will publish evidence of the level of acceptance from said specialists and academics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46073/25]

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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1765. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the specialists and academics he consulted in making the decision to continue using the old definition for the Irish Peat Soil Map rather than implementing the newly published one; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46074/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1764 and 1765 together.

In preparation for the introduction of the new GAEC 2 standard  - Protection of Peatlands and Wetlands, officials from my department completed a detailed review of existing data sources of peat maps. In completing this task Department officials consulted widely within my own department, with officials in the Department of Climate Change, Energy and the Environment, the Environmental Protection Agency and Teagasc - Environment, Soils and Land-Use Research.  

DAFM officials attended relevant scientific meeting and conference  to discover possible data sources available and  source used by academia and regulatory organisations, for example the Grassland Peat Agriculture Workshop - Gurteen College,  10th May 2023.

The decision to use the Teagasc-EPA Soils and Subsoils Mapping Project” (2009) for GAEC- 2 was based on what definition was the most widely accepted and used by academia, research and regulatory bodies in Ireland.  In particular, the EPA  use this definition for Ireland’s National Inventory reporting, in line with IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

As previously stated, my Department ensures that all new research is considered when implementing new policies, however, this is balanced at all times with ensuring consistency and confidence with farmers of the data used