Minister of State with responsibility for heritage Malcolm Noonan will appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine tomorrow (Tuesday, September 21) to discuss peat shortages in the horticulture industry.
The meeting will begin at 3:30p.m and is slated to last for two hours.
Minister Noonan will partake in the first hour of the meeting.
In the second hour, representatives from the Women in Agriculture Stakeholders Group (WASG) will appear to speak about the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The meeting will take place in Committee Room 3 at Leinster House.
Speaking in advance of the meeting, the committee chairperson Jackie Cahill said: “In our first session, we will revisit the ongoing dilemma that is the shortage of peat in Ireland for the horticulture industry.
“Before the recess, we [heard that] the peat industry employs around 6,600 direct and 11,000 indirect employees in the Irish horticultural sector, and this industry is in need of clarification and help,” the Fianna Fáil TD said.
“At the moment, the solution put forward seems to be the importation of peat into this country for this industry. Peat is a natural product of this country.
“It’s nonsensical that we are importing peat and adding to the cost base of vital rural industries. We need to explore possibilities around a small percentage of our bogs being used to harvest peat for these industries in rural Ireland,” Cahill added.
The Tipperary TD went on to say: “The committee also looks forward to meeting with the newly-formed WASG and to discuss their call for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine [Charlie McConalogue] to address the issue of achieving gender balance within Irish agriculture in its CAP [consultation] submission.”
The meeting of the committee can be viewed on Oireachtas TV.