The current debate on large-scale extraction of peat from Ireland bogs continues unabated. In the latest development government has been accused of folly in its determination to allow the outsourcing of Ireland’s food security architecture by means of access to milled peat for the use of horticulture.
According to Laois-Offaly TD Carol Nolan, government cannot, and should not, continue to maintain the prohibition of peat extraction for harvesting.
Nolan says it is entirely irrational to continue acting as if we do not have widely available, viable and immediate access to a fuel and food security source on our own doorstep. In her call for government to temporarily suspend the current system of regulation that is preventing the large-scale extraction of peat, she says “we need our peat contractors, farmers, mushroom growers, vegetable and grain planters to be given the regulatory and legal space that they need to bring about the kind of fuel and food security that we desperately need given the chaos in the work markets.”
“Government should immediately recognise that the borderline characterisation of the horticulture sector as a bunch of ‘eco-criminals’ is profoundly unjust,” she added.
Meanwhile, research to alternatives for peat are underway with results expected over the coming months.
LSL News.