Independent TD for Offaly, Carol Nolan has criticised Minister Darragh O’Brien for what she called his "complete failure" to answer her query on "whether it is now government policy to cease all commercial peat extraction”.

Deputy Nolan said she asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the question in light of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s recent statement to her in the Dáil, where the Taoiseach said “there has been a long-standing policy in terms of peat extraction because of the impacts it has in terms of both biodiversity and climate perspective”.

At the time, the Taoiseach added: “In the last iteration of this policy in the previous government, my understanding was that small and turbary rights domestic users of turf would not in any way be impacted.

“It is still my view that they are not impacted. I think the deputy is talking about smaller commercial extractors, or what she would describe as small, which would be 30ha. That is not quite small.

In reply to Deputy Nolan's query to him, Minister O’Brien yesterday (May 7) said: “Commercial peat extraction continues to be a regulated activity.

"My department and the National Parks and Wildlife Service commissioned a guidance document, The Regulatory Framework Applying to Peat Extraction - A Guidance Document.”

The minister highlighted the following points from the document:

For peat extraction on an area of less than 30ha, planning permission from the relevant local authority and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) may be required;
For peat extraction on an area between 30-50ha, planning permission from the relevant local authority and EIA is required;
For peat extraction from on an area greater than 5 ha, the extraction needs an Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licence from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as planning permission from the relevant local authority.

Minister O'Brien added: “As set out above, in addition to planning permission, the extraction of peat in areas over 50ha requires an IPC licence from the agency.

"The agency is an independent public body established under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 and is entirely independent in the exercise of its functions, including enforcement, under that act.”

‘No assurance’

The Offaly TD said that the minister’s reply "contains no explicit confirmation, no denial, and no assurance whatsoever that commercial peat production will continue”. 

She said: “Instead, the minister simply listed an ever-growing thicket of planning rules, Environmental Impact Assessments, Appropriate Assessments, Integrated Pollution Control licences and EPA enforcement actions.

“Once again the minister and by extension the government, since this directly relates to the Taoiseach, has refused to be honest with the Irish people.

“There is not one word in this reply that gives any comfort to workers, families or communities who depend on peat production.”

‘End goal’

According to Deputy Nolan: "The unspoken but obvious policy of this government is to phase out commercial peat extraction entirely, while pretending otherwise in public.

“They deserve to be told the truth; that this government’s end goal is to shut down domestic peat production and force us into even deeper reliance on imported peat and fossil fuels.”

She added that this approach “is not environmental policy, it is extreme ideological incoherence dressed up as climate action”.

The TD said: “We are closing down a strategic indigenous industry that provides energy security and employment, only to replace it with imports from countries with far weaker environmental standards.

“The minister’s refusal to give a straight answer today proves the government knows how unpopular this agenda is, so they are trying to implement it by stealth." 

The Offaly TD went on to call on Minister O'Brien and the Taoiseach to "be upfront with the people".

“If the policy is to end commercial peat extraction, say so openly instead of hiding behind bureaucratic language and regulatory creep," she said.