The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has welcomed comments made by An Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar today (Friday, November 5) on the availability of peat for the horticulture sector.

The IFA said that Varadkar acknowledged there was no viable alternative to peat for the horticulture sector and that the government needed to find a solution to the issue.

The IFA is now calling on Minister for Heritage, Malcolm Noonan to publish the final report from the peat consultation group he established.

IFA president, Tim Cullinan said: “Any further inaction on this issue will lead to the demise of the horticultural sector.

"Yesterday, the government published the proposed emissions targets in the Climate Action Plan. At the same time, the horticultural sector is being forced to import peat from the Baltics and increase its environmental footprint," he added.

The IFA has said that it appreciates the environmental importance of peatlands and the need to look at alternative substrates for use in the horticulture sector.

However, the association added that "unfortunately, there is currently no viable alternative to peat for most operators”.

IFA horticulture chair, Paul Brophy said: “If no solution is found, shipments of imported peat will continue to serve our sustainable horticulture sector.

“It appears that creating an unanticipated environmental issue elsewhere is not important, so long as peat harvesting is no longer taking place in Ireland," he added.  

The IFA said that the importation of peat will increase the environmental footprint of Irish growers while placing them at a severe competitive disadvantage.