Bord na Móna has suspended its remaining plans for peat harvesting and commenced work on its Enhanced Peatland Rehabilitation Scheme (EPRS).
The company announced there will be no further job losses as a result.Impacted employees will be reassigned from peat harvesting works into EPRS operations.
It has said the scheme provides clarity for employees who have been concerned by the ongoing uncertainty around planning for peat harvesting which has become increasingly challenged following a High Court case last year.
Bord na Móna will now commence scheme work that will involve 65,000ha (c.160,000ac) of its bogs this summer. The scheme was announced last October as a key component of Bord na Móna’s move away from peat.
Bord na Móna stated it will work with all relevant parties to quickly finalise the funding and other details of the scheme in the coming weeks.
High Court
Last year the High Court ruled, in the absence of primary legislation providing an alternative mechanism for compliance with European environmental law, all peat extraction operations on bogs over 30ha require planning permission.
Following this ruling Bord na Móna applied to An Bord Pleanála, for leave to apply for substituted consent for the company’s remaining operational bogs. It lodged its substituted consent applications after it was granted leave to apply by ABP in May 2020.
The company has recognised that this application pwill lead to a range of legal and planning challenges. Its intention now is to progress the application while also exploring alternatives to peat as demand declines.
What is involved in the scheme?
The scheme will involve enhanced rehabilitation of bogs using a wide array of engineering and ecology works designed to encourage and accelerate natural recolonisation and restoration processes.
Once rehabilitated, the peatlands will include peat forming bogs and wetlands, grasslands and native woodlands. The plan also involves research and analysis of the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and sequestration that will accrue from the rehabilitation programme.
Employees
Bord na Móna chief executive, Tom Donnellan, said: “This enhanced rehabilitation scheme will reassign employees out of harvesting straight into rehabilitation operations ahead of our original target later this year.
“This announcement provides clarity for employees who have been concerned by the ongoing uncertainty around planning for peat harvesting which has become increasingly challenged since last year’s High Court case,” he said.
"The company will review the new timelines for the transition to a non-peat product base and operations model that will take place over the next few years."
Read more
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Fuelling transformation at Bord Na Móna
Bord na Móna has suspended its remaining plans for peat harvesting and commenced work on its Enhanced Peatland Rehabilitation Scheme (EPRS).
The company announced there will be no further job losses as a result.Impacted employees will be reassigned from peat harvesting works into EPRS operations.
It has said the scheme provides clarity for employees who have been concerned by the ongoing uncertainty around planning for peat harvesting which has become increasingly challenged following a High Court case last year.
Bord na Móna will now commence scheme work that will involve 65,000ha (c.160,000ac) of its bogs this summer. The scheme was announced last October as a key component of Bord na Móna’s move away from peat.
Bord na Móna stated it will work with all relevant parties to quickly finalise the funding and other details of the scheme in the coming weeks.
High Court
Last year the High Court ruled, in the absence of primary legislation providing an alternative mechanism for compliance with European environmental law, all peat extraction operations on bogs over 30ha require planning permission.
Following this ruling Bord na Móna applied to An Bord Pleanála, for leave to apply for substituted consent for the company’s remaining operational bogs. It lodged its substituted consent applications after it was granted leave to apply by ABP in May 2020.
The company has recognised that this application pwill lead to a range of legal and planning challenges. Its intention now is to progress the application while also exploring alternatives to peat as demand declines.
What is involved in the scheme?
The scheme will involve enhanced rehabilitation of bogs using a wide array of engineering and ecology works designed to encourage and accelerate natural recolonisation and restoration processes.
Once rehabilitated, the peatlands will include peat forming bogs and wetlands, grasslands and native woodlands. The plan also involves research and analysis of the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and sequestration that will accrue from the rehabilitation programme.
Employees
Bord na Móna chief executive, Tom Donnellan, said: “This enhanced rehabilitation scheme will reassign employees out of harvesting straight into rehabilitation operations ahead of our original target later this year.
“This announcement provides clarity for employees who have been concerned by the ongoing uncertainty around planning for peat harvesting which has become increasingly challenged since last year’s High Court case,” he said.
"The company will review the new timelines for the transition to a non-peat product base and operations model that will take place over the next few years."
Read more
Bord na Móna reinforces bog rehabilitation programme
Watch: used silage wrap wanted at new Bord na Móna plant
Fuelling transformation at Bord Na Móna
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