Growing Media Ireland (GMI) has warned that there is no quick fix to the issue of peat shortages impacting horticulture growers.

Last week, growers held a protest outside the Convention Centre, where the Dáil currently sits, to vent their frustration at a ban on harvesting peat on bogs over 30ha in size.

Growers say they need peat harvested annually for growing crops and propagating seeds.

Minister of State for Agriculture Pippa Hackett said that she had found a way to temporarily relieve the situation but growers have warned that this is not enough.

Stockpile

“The stockpile of peat the Minister refers to is not large enough to meet demand in the short-term and is totally unsuitable for some crops such as mushrooms. The introduction of small-scale harvesting will also be insufficient to meet demand,” John Neenan, chair of GMI said.

“Research into peat alternatives may indeed find viable solutions in the decades to come, but the current Irish stockpile will be exhausted by September. Our sector will then be forced to import peat into Ireland from Eastern Europe or alternatives from Asia at a higher cost both financially and environmentally, assuming adequate quantities can actually be sourced.”

“The only workable solution is an immediate lifting of restrictions on peat harvesting for 2021 to avoid a shortage this year and in 2022.”

Ministers are due to give evidence at the Oireachtas Committee for Agriculture on Tuesday 20 July on the issue.