Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 July 2026
85. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the total Exchequer support for the Bord na Móna bog rehabilitation scheme; the approximate cost per acre of the scheme; and the findings made by his Department on the applicability of these costings to other rewilding and ecological restoration schemes in Ireland, whether in bogs or elsewhere. [53373/26]
View answerThe rehabilitation and restoration of peatlands is currently being undertaken by Bord na Móna (BnM) through the Enhanced Decommissioning Rehabilitation and Restoration Scheme (EDRRS). BnM are the operator of the scheme, with my Department administering the project and the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage involved as the scheme regulator.
EDRRS is one of Ireland’s lead green projects under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and receives funding via the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF). It involves the rehabilitation of approximately 33,000 hectares of previously extracted peatland.
The maximum value of funding for the scheme to be done between 2021 and 2030 is €108 million. The scheme is funded by the RRF up to August 2026 to the maximum value of €86 million. The remaining €22 million will be funded by the Climate Action Fund between September 2026 and December 2030. The approximate cost per hectare for the scheme is €3,300 or €1,300 per acre.
To date, €72.4 million has been claimed by BnM under EDRRS and just over 24,500 hectares of peatland have been rehabilitated. The work being carried out under this scheme will help fulfil a key target under the Land Use, Land Use Change & Forestry (LULUCF) sector of the national Climate Action Plan.
Once rehabilitated, these peatlands will support peat forming habitats, protecting the storage of millions of tonnes of carbon, enhancing biodiversity, and contributing to Ireland’s target of carbon neutrality by no later than 2050.
EDRRS is the largest scheme of its kind in Ireland and is a pathfinder in Europe, and can act as a leading example for further restoration initiatives across the country. A Best Practice Report is currently being drafted alongside a range of other reporting that will outline the work that has been undertaken so far, the lessons learned and the improvements generated as a result of the rehabilitation under the scheme. Reporting in relation to monitoring and verification, as well as annual reports, can already be found on the scheme website, www.bnmpcas.ie.
As well as looking at the technical impacts of the scheme, the reporting will also cover the financial aspect of the scheme. The applicability of costings, or any associated lessons learned, to other restoration schemes in Ireland will largely depend on the nature of these future schemes, for example, if they involve forest-to-bog restoration, or if they constitute a land use change and require planning consent.
