Carol Nolan raises peatland rehab and flood risk concerns
Carol Nolan warned about risks to farmers and communities from peatland rehabilitation and flood risk, calling for a clear long-term agreement and legal protections if the company changes hands. She questioned how long rehabilitation projects will last and what will happen to workers tied to those projects.
Main concerns
Carol Nolan highlighted farmers' fears about ongoing flood risk, citing silt build-up in the River Shannon and local flooding around West Offaly. She said maintenance and management must be addressed and urged a clear long-term agreement to give farmers confidence and encourage cooperation.
Questions on rehabilitation duration and workers
She asked how many years rehabilitation of bogs will continue and raised concern for workers whose jobs are tied to that work. Nolan noted that Derren Lock workers were told by Borden Amona they were safe until 2024 and asked what would happen to them when rehabilitation ends.
Company response and maintenance plans
The speech records that Borden Amona outlined an extensive stakeholder engagement process and emphasised decades of experience in peatland rehabilitation. The company said it operates a care and maintenance team, will maintain outer drains, and adheres to obligations under its IPC licence to avoid flooding on neighbouring lands.
Community and landowner responsibilities
Borden Amona described itself as responsible landowners who have worked these peatlands for generations and who are part of the local community. Nolan stressed that any change of company ownership should include legal protections to cover farmers and secure long-term maintenance commitments.
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Yeah, I suppose just to say, look, there's huge concern among farmers in terms of a risk and it's all well and good to say there'll be no risk, but look, we can't say that indefinitely. I mean, we know that the River Shannon, for instance, has caused flooding issues around West Offaly because of the silt which built up in it and Borden Amona was in charge of that. So I'm looking at maintenance and management and I believe that a clear agreement needs to be drawn up, as Deputy Fitzmaurice says, I support that, into the long term. But also, if another company take over from Borden Amona, there has to be something legal there to cover that and to cover farmers in order to get confidence and cooperation. That's what I'm hearing on the ground. And then I just want to ask very quickly, in terms of the rehabilitation projects, like you say that they're going to continue for a few years or a number of years, how many years will their rehabilitation of bogs last for? And where do the workers go then? Are they going to be left high and dry? In terms of the Derren Lock workers, they're told Borden Amona said they're safe till 2024. The rehabilitation will be over by the time those workers are let go, if Borden Amona stays true to its word to keep those workers in place till 2024. So what do they do? So I'm asking just in terms of the workers there on the rehabilitation, it's linked in directly to the rehabilitation. Gaurav mantengaid. Gaurav mat守 Chairman, Borden Amona have quite an extensive stakeholder engagement process in place at the moment and I think that's been acknowledged by a number of parties that there have been engagement with us. and we've outlined, I suppose, what rehabilitation is and what the process is. It's important, I suppose, we've been involved in rehabilitation for 30 years plus. We have a lot of experience in doing rehabilitation of peat lands and, you know, we have avoided and eliminated the risk of flooding on third-party lands. In addition to the rehabilitation, we also have a care and maintenance team. So, once we've stopped the peat harvesting, the care and maintenance team are involved in maintaining the drains and we have obligations under existing IPC license to adhere to. But we'll continue with the care and maintenance program into the future to make sure that we keep the outer drains properly maintained so we avoid the risk of flooding onto neighbouring lands. Board of Moana, I've worked on these peat lands, as I said previously, for 90 years. We have responsibilities as landowners. We have fulfilled them in the past and we'll fulfill them in the future. You know, we know how important our neighbours are. We're heavily involved in the community. We are part of the community. Some of our neighbours, whose lands have joined us, are employees at Board of Moana. They know these lands, just like the local farmers know their lands. So, we know what's involved when we prepare the hydrological assessments of these peat lands. And we'll continue on to give that care and maintenance service, making sure that we fulfill our obligations in being responsible landowners.
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