Independent TD for Laois-Offaly, Deputy Carol Nolan has called on the government to reassess its rejection of the working group report on horticulture, as “food security becomes a national issue”.
Deputy Nolan raised the matter as the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue confirmed to engage with farm organisations amid food security concerns due to the war in Ukraine.
The issue of food security is now “front and centre” in Irish and European policy and, Deputy Nolan said, government action must reflect this “immediately and without delay”.
Before the current crisis in Ukraine, according to Deputy Nolan, the horticultural sector characterised the government response to the report as an “economic catastrophe”.
“Those concerns have now been magnified by the clear need to maintain and develop our own indigenous levels of food security and food cultivation,” she said.
Deputy Nolan is specifically asking the Minister of State with responsibility for planning and local government, Peter Burke and Minister McConalogue to accept report recommendations.
Through the advice given in the working group report, Deputy Nolan stated, “we can avoid the calamitous outcomes that will inevitably overtake and collapse the sector in their absence”.
The final report of the working group on the use of peat moss in the horticultural industry was published in early 2022 (Monday, January 17), and focused on examining potential alternatives to peat.
Decisions taken by the government in response to the report on horticultural peat must be “immediately re-examined”, according to Deputy Nolan.
In their response, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage proposed a series of actions for horticultural growers who rely on peat:
- The commissioning of an independent expert to assess levels and suitability of current stocks of peat across all suppliers, including Bord na Móna, for the Irish horticultural sector;
- The commissioning of experts on planning to provide free advice to those who wish to extract peat in a manner which is compliant with the relevant regulations on sub-30ha bogs;
- Research to deliver alternatives to peat for the horticulture sector.
“The government in January chose to ignore the recommendations contained within its working group report on horticultural peat – a decision that everyone within the sector agreed would only escalate the collapse,” Deputy Nolan concluded.