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Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has stated that Eire needed to take its duties in relation to the conservation of bogs “massively critically”.
The Minister was responding on RTÉ radio’s Morning Eire to feedback from Unbiased TD Michael Fitzmaurice who stated “Eire shouldn’t be advised what to do by a international energy.”
The European Fee is to refer Eire to the European Court docket of Justice for failure to use the habitats directive in defending designated raised bathroom and blanket bogs from turf reducing, it was reported on Wednesday.
“We’ve labored very intently with farmers during the last variety of years and certainly by way of our nationwide coverage of taking selections, which is radically altering how we cope with our bogs. As , over a few years and many years, lots of our electrical energy era got here immediately from peat extraction, by way of Bord na Móna,” Mr McConalogue stated
“And certainly, , the business sale of turf was a big business in Eire as effectively. That’s completely modified.
“And never solely will we now not produce electrical energy by way of peat, there’s additionally no business peat extraction by way of Bord na Móna; we’ve additionally seen a state of affairs the place the quantity of personal extraction of turf has massively lowered,” the Minister stated.
The European Fee selected Wednesday to refer the Authorities to the European courtroom. The habitats directive requires member states to designate their most treasured pure habitats and to guard them from dangerous actions – particularly the place they’re designated as particular areas of conservation.
Lavatory lands in Eire proceed to be degraded by way of drainage and turf reducing actions, and inadequate motion is being taken to revive the websites, it concluded.
Mr McConalogue stated that between 2022 and 2023 peat extraction from blanket bogs had been lowered by 40 per cent. Clearly the state of affairs now was very completely different from 10 years in the past, he stated, including the state of affairs wanted to alter considerably yearly.
“Proper now in Eire, we’ve the biggest tasks anyplace in Europe underneath method by way of bathroom restoration, with 50,000 hectares of bogs being restored and work is commencing in 30 of our 53 raised bogs. “Work is continuous and ramping up all the time.”
The important thing to the progress that had been made up to now was the connection between the Authorities and farmers and landowners in relation to restoring bogs.
This was “massively necessary work” and one thing through which farmers had proven “large co-operation”. There have been 55,000 farmers concerned in taking “vital motion” on how upland bogs have been managed and restored, Mr McConalogue stated.
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