The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has confirmed that the new Irish Peat Soil Map will not be used "at the present time" for the implementation of the new standard Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC 2).

The Social Democrats spokesperson for climate and environment, Wicklow TD, Jennifer Whitmore, had questioned the minister in the Dáil as to why the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) proposed to use the Teagasc soil and subsoils map for the implementation of GAEC 2.

The Social Democrats TD also highlighted to the Dáil that the new map had been funded by DAFM.

Minister Heydon told Deputy Whitmore that in preparation for the introduction of the new GAEC 2 standard - Protection of Peatlands and Wetlands, DAFM officials, in consultation with the European Commission, selected a definition and a mapping source for peat soils.

The minister outlined to the deputy that a definition of peat soils was selected for GAEC 2.

"A peat soil is defined as organic soil materials which have sedentarily accumulated and have at least 30% (dry mass) organic matter over a depth of at least 45cm on undrained land and 30cm deep on drained land; the depth requirement does not apply if the peat layer is over bedrock," he stated.

Minister Heydon also told Deputy Whitmore that this definition for peat soils "is the generally accepted definition used by academia, research and regulatory bodies in Ireland and by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Ireland’s National Inventory reporting".

He also stated that the the associated peat soils map that uses this specific definition and the map selected for use for GAEC 2 "is the Teagasc-EPA Soils and Subsoils Mapping Project" (2009).

Minister Heydon said: "As part of the preparations for introduction of GAEC 2 an evaluation of alternative data sources was completed, including the Irish Peat Soil Map (IPSM).

According to the minister this was based on a number reasons including that:

The IPSM  definition of peat soil includes shallow peat soils - 10 cm and 8.6 % organic matter content - that have not been included in the existing accepted definition of peat soil;
The IPSM map includes a large area of newly identified peat - 0.535 Mha - but excludes 0.325 Mha previously identified as peat in previous maps;
It is considered that consistency is required both within DAFM and with other state agencies - the EPA is still using the Teagasc/EPA map for Green House Gas (GHG) inventory purposes.

Previously the Environmental Pillar, which represents the views of 34 environmental non- government organisations (NGOs) had said that "Ireland should use the new Irish Peat Soils Map to implement GAEC 2".

According to the minister DAFM "ensures that all new research is considered when implementing new policies but this is balanced at all times with ensuring consistency for farmers".