Minister says other Departments must step up to the mark to resolve peat issue
IFA President Tim Cullinan led horticulture growers at a protest outside Leinster House as Senators debated the issue of peat that’s needed for commercial horticulture. Picture: Finbarr O’Rourke
The Minister of State with responsibility for local government and planning said last week he has no issue with supporting exemption of peat extraction from the planning process, but policy would be needed for an alternative regime meeting EU environmental standards.
Minister of State Peter Burke confirmed in a Seanad Eireann debate that up to 200 truckloads travelled 100km with peat from Latvian bogs to Riga, for shipping to Drogheda and onto the midlands, to Rathowen, Co Westmeath, near a bog where extraction was abandoned in 2019.
