I thank the Senator for bringing this very important issue to the House. I appreciate the importance of the mushroom sector in Ireland, particularly in the Senator's own area of Monaghan. My Department has no involvement in the regulation of peat extraction. This is a planning process under the remit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and an integrated pollution control, IPC, licence process under the remit of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. It is important to…

I agree with the Senator. There is a strong understanding in the mushroom sector and the wider horticulture sector that in the future, peat will not play a major role in their production but we need that just transition. We need to be able to support the sector and move to that place where it is not so reliant on peat. Within the mushroom sector, the research has looked at spent mushroom casings, blending that with other substrates, reducing the amount of peat in casing and looking at possibilities such as coir. Th…

I welcome the Minister. I have four children and want the world they and their children live in as adults to be one that renews, refreshes and reinvigorates itself, not one that continues to degrade, decay and destruct. That, quite simply, is what this Bill is about. Life as we know it must change; otherwise, we will condemn our children and grandchildren to a bleak future with greater inequality, increased injustice and a natural world devoid of meaningful life and incapable of growing the food we need to survive.…

I thank Deputy Cahill for bringing forward the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021 and for the opportunity to discuss the effective regulation of the practice of veterinary medicine in Ireland. The roles of the farmer and the vet are the most crucial in all the agrifood sector. There is a symbiotic relationship built on trust, respect and mutual appreciation. One cannot function without the other and both appreciate each other. However, it is not just at farm level where our vets play such a crucial role. The…

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter. It is good to hear that he was in County Laois at the weekend. Government Departments and their agencies work collaboratively to collectively protect water quality in Ireland. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is the lead authority for the nitrates regulations and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine implements and operates the nitrates derogation. The current nitrates action programme and nitrates derogation are in place from 2018…

I reassure the Senator that the Department and I are committed to supporting those small farmers. They are indeed vital to rural areas. Whether they are full time or part time does not matter much to me at all. It is about how the land is managed and the water protected. If we can do that through supporting small farmers to maintain livestock, it is even better. At the end of the day, it comes down to how the land is managed and the water protected. We will absolutely do everything we can to support farmers to keep…

As one of the few Senators from the midlands, I am concerned about some of the negative press the midlands receives, particularly and disappointingly from some of its own political representatives. As a progressive and pragmatic Green Party politician, I refuse to accept their destructive story that decarbonising this important region means we are losing something valuable. We are not and I am calling that out because what we are actually doing is gaining. Times are changing and the midlands region is moving on. No…

I thank the Deputy for his question. Driving the development of the Irish organic sector is a major priority for me and my Department. We have set the highest level of ambition ever for the sector in the programme for Government with an aim to reach the EU average of land farmed organically during the lifetime of this Government. We are also committed to the full implementation of the current Review of Organic Food Sector and Strategy for its Development 2019-2025. A key element in reaching this ambitious target is…

The EU average of 7.5% was the agreed figure we worked off for the programme for Government. That is a significantly ambitious target. I appreciate it is not near the EU's target of 25%. However, the EU currently has an average land area of between 8% and 8.5% given over to organics. Even across the EU, to get from 8.5% to 25% by 2030 is also hugely ambitious. We will work closely with our partners across Europe because if they have to do it, we have to do it. We have to share that knowledge and implement it. The s…

The scheme is not the only mechanism. Many operators can operate without the scheme. They may not need the financial assistance but they are still organic farming and are assessed by the organic certification bodies. The incentive is there to encourage people into it. Some people find they can operate perfectly and profitably without the assistance of the offer of the moneys through the scheme. I assure the Deputy that my ambitions for organics and forestry are genuine. I will be working hard to ensure they deliver…

I do not think the situation has got worse. I agree that it is not a lot better, but it certainly has not got worse. Forestry and related issues, particularly the resolution of licensing issues, are a major priority for the Department and me. We recognise the importance of forestry to farmers, forest owners, forestry contractors, sawmills, nurseries, wood processors and the wider rural economy as a whole. It is a hugely valuable and important sector. In order to deliver fully on the potential of the sector, we need…

To address the Deputy's final point, afforestation is new areas and replanting is part of the felling and replanting option, so that is not afforestation, just reforestation. The afforestation levels that the Deputy quotes are correct. Past levels have been low. We have not attained the target of 8,000 ha under the climate action plan. I expect, unfortunately, that the levels of afforestation this year will be similar to last year. However, we hope that the trend will reverse with the work on Project Woodland and t…

Do I address all three Deputies? Deputy Browne has a specific question.

I concur with the concerns raised. We need to inject confidence into the sector. Our farmers will be key to this. We do not have many more hectares of State land to afforest, so if we are to meet our targets, we will rely almost wholly on private landowners and farmers. I reject the claim that we give preferential treatment to Coillte. It supplies 75% of the timber for Irish sawmills and receives approximately 65% of the felling licences. I do not think that is preferential treatment. Will Deputy Browne ask that fu…

I will not be able to respond to that in this time.

I have only five seconds left.

It should be noted at the outset that my Department has no role in the regulation or control of peat extraction. However, I am very aware of the current dependence of the horticultural industry on the availability of peat moss. Following on from the publication of a report on the review of the use of peat moss in the horticulture industry by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, set up a working group to consider impacts on the sector. It is proposed…

The Deputy's question relates to mushrooms and the wider horticulture sector. The decision by Bord na Móna to cease harvesting has directly affected the sector. The mushroom industry does not tend to acquire peat from Bord na Móna, so it has a slightly different problem, albeit we are going to reach a stage at some time in the future when nobody will be using peat for horticulture, certainly across Europe, and in the wider world. Therefore, the Deputy is correct that there is a necessity to have a just transition t…

I accept what both Deputies are saying and that this is a tiny portion compared to what we have extracted over the decades for energy production and so forth. Those are the questions the working group has been charged with and I am hoping to get some answers from it on this. As I said, the group reports to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, but certainly it is directly affecting the horticulture sector. It is untrue in a sense to say there are no alternatives because there are, although they are not available at…

The need for a forestry strategy was one of the recommendations made by Mr. Jim Mackinnon in his report. Mr. Mackinnon was commissioned in 2019 to examine the processes for approving afforestation proposals and the linked issues for other forestry-related operations. The development of a new forestry strategy will provide an opportunity to not only review the goals set out in the last forestry strategy for Ireland published in 2014, but also to adapt the strategy to the new challenges and requirements, and to provi…