A new bill is set to be introduced that will allow temporary peat extraction for horticultural purposes.
The Horticultural Peat (Temporary Measures) Bill 2021 will be introduced in the Seanad today (Tuesday, November 23).
The bill is aimed at “ending Irish horticultural growers’ reliance on expensive imported peat as a growing medium for their produce by allowing them to extract Irish peat as part of a just transition”.
The bill will make exceptional provisions for peat extraction for the purpose of horticulture for a temporary period in the public interest, in order to mitigate the adverse consequences resulting from an interruption to supply.
Speaking at the launch of the bill, Fine Gael senator Regina Doherty said: “Irish growers produce some of the highest quality food and plants in the world, but as a result of one foolish legal action to ban growers extracting Irish peat, they’re now in the midst of an industry crisis.
“This has to change,” she stressed.
She highlighted that producers have “no option” but to import peat from as far away as Latvia.
“We have acres of peatland right here, with only 0.12% of total Irish peatland required for the purpose of horticulture.
“As it stands, there are no alternatives that are available, affordable and sustainable. Importing peat has extremely high monetary and environmental costs,” Doherty argued.
She continued: “The price paid by growers for foreign peat is much more expensive than what they would pay for Irish peat, while importing it has five times the environmental impact of extracting it ourselves. Time is of the essence here. Every fortnight that we don’t have a solution to this issue, another 3,600t of imported peat arrives on our shores.”
Doherty thanked her fellow senator, Fianna Fáil’s Robbie Gallagher, for his efforts on the cross-party bill.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard highlighted the role of the Seanad in addressing issues in the sector.
“It’s not the first time the Seanad has had to intervene to ensure that we have proper accountability in the Oireachtas when it comes to agriculture issues,” he said.
“We made radical changes to the Climate Action Bill which was very successful. If there is no movement on the forestry licencing controversy, you could see another private members bill coming down the tracks to sort that issue,” Lombard suggested.