Apparently urgent government action is required in Ireland to protect thousands of jobs in the peat-based Irish horticulture sector, an industry report has claimed.
Tighter controls on the harvesting of peat for horticultural purposes is putting close to 500 jobs at risk in the short-term, peat harvesters claimed, and is threatening the viability of horticultural plant growers and the mushroom industry which provide 6,000 further jobs.
Peat harvesters have indicated that the planning and licensing regime to operate bogs takes between four and six years to navigate and all peat harvesting on bogs must cease during the application.
