The Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has heard that shiploads of peat are still being imported into the country to supply growers of mushrooms, vegetables, flowers and trees, at huge cost to the environment and consumers.
The committee also heard much criticism of the Government for failing to license limited peat extraction for the horticulture industry.
Since a 2019 High Court ruling, peat harvesting on bogs greater than 30 hectares has stopped and growers have been depending on dwindling supplies.
Efforts to develop non-peat growing media have not yielded results that could replace peat in terms of quality, quantity or costs according to John Neenan, Chairperson of Growing Media Ireland, which represents the majority of horticultural peat and growing media producers in the country.
"When we were last in front of the committee we warned that if action was not taken Ireland would be reliant on imported peat of inferior quality, uncertain supply and negative environmental consequences," he said.
"This has now been realised; horticultural growers now depend on imported peat. Several large shipments of peat for horticulture have been imported from the Baltic states over the last year.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made this already vulnerable supply of peat even more unstable. All shipments from Russia and Belarus have ceased and shipping costs from the Baltic states have increased by up to 300%.
"These additional costs are now passed on to growers and in turn to consumers, adding to the food inflation that the public are experiencing."
Mr Neenan said importing peat has a huge environmental impact resulting in higher emissions than harvesting at home.
"Each shipment requires 200 trucks to load a vessel, travelling 3,000km by sea before discharging its cargo into another 200 trucks," he said.
"The emission generated from domestically harvesting horticultural peat are very small in comparison, only 0.15% of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions.
"The horticultural industry employs over 17,000 people in Ireland, 6,600 directly and 11,000 indirectly."
He criticised the lack of Government action to tackle an issue that was well flagged. He said they have been "inactive" and he called on the Government to develop mechanisms to sustainably use domestic peat supplies in the short term.
Mr Neenan also said that despite promise of reform, not a single operator has managed to get planning permission or a licence to harvest peat since 2019, despite clear recommendations in a number of reports.
Witness Orla McManus, CEO of Commerical Mushroom Producers in Co Monaghan, also gave evidence.
In her opening statement she said mushroom growers intend to be peat free by 2030, but in the interim they need to be able to get supplies, otherwise their industry will shrink.
"There is already a decline in the number of growers and production units, and the threat of rising input costs due to imported peat, and possible peat alternatives threatens to put further growers out of business, especially those in rural Ireland where alternative employment opportunities are scarce," she said.
Ms Walsh supported calls for the Government to introduce a licensing system to allow the harvesting of enough peat to supply their growers immediate needs.
She said that without this, further investment in the Irish mushroom industry "will not and cannot take place".
The industry is currently worth €160m per annum with 85% of mushrooms being exported to the UK.
She also said the mushroom industry would use small amounts of peat during the transition period, equivalent to 0.5% of all peat extracted in Ireland in 2019.
Read more: Horticulture harvest under threat due to peat curbs
Chairman of the committee, Deputy Deputy Jackie Cahill, said he was disappointed that the committee had to revisit the matter of peat harvesting for horticulture again.
He also said the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage declined a committee request to come before it on this subject
Independent Senator Victor Boyhan, who previously worked in the horticulture industry, said the recommendations to phase out peat by 2030 and to pass legislation to end the dual consent scheme are being ignored.
He said a KPMG report that urged a viable mechanism be developed to utilise Irish peat has also been ignored.
He quoted Tánaiste Leo Varadkar who said last year that he recognised that there is no viable alternative to peat for the horticultural sector and the Government needed to find a solution to the issue.
He urged the witnesses to get "political" and "motivate your communities" about this because they are being ignored and said its "absolute sheer madness" peat is being imported from other states.
He asked witnesses why they thought they were in the position they are in.
Responding, Kieran Dunne of Kildare Growers Group said they have been working over the last two years with everyone required.
He said all of their efforts have been in vain as they have met a brick wall wherever they met.
He said two reports about peat have been sitting on shelves for nine months and they are now in a more difficult place than when they started out.
He criticised a Government action plan published after the reports as "pathetic, useless and unworkable" and said "it could have been written in playschool."
Mr Dunne also said he is being forced to buy inferior peat from abroad, while Bord na Mona is delivering thousands of tonnes of peat to the Edenderry Power Plant every day.
"The Government is paying lip service to the horticultural industry, which we find incredibly insulting," he said.
"We are people working very hard in rural communities ... worth millions to the Exchequer and employing large numbers of people in rural communities of which we are proud of.
"We deserve better, we expect better and we demand better."
Mr Dunne added that he was disgusted that nobody from the relevant Government departments was present to answer questions and said Kildare Growers had no confidence in Ministers Ryan, Hackett or Noonan.
Independent Deputy Michael Collins asked will growers get any support from experts to use new growing media, which he said he understood is not working at all.
He also asked if peat is still being exported from Ireland and why the Government has not given grants to landowners of bogs to block drains that sit emitting greenhouse gases but can't be used for peat.
Orla McManus of CMP said they are investing in developing other types of growing media and have initially used industry investment, with the department now coming on board.
She said the process is costing them €19m over five years.
Kevin Mahon of Klassmann-Deilmann, which makes alternative media with wood fibre and other materials, said there are challenges with them and they do not hold as much water as peat and have to be watered 30% more making them less environmentally friendly.
He said alternatives have to be mixed with other things and the only viable option is peat moss.
Mr Mahon said green compost consistency is a big problem and it can contain contaminants like glass, faeces, needles and plastics. Peat, he said, is a virgin product.
Sinn Féin's Agriculture Spokesperson Matt Carty said it was absolutely scandalous that Government departments that could resolves these concerns are refusing to engage.
He said no one has challenged the assertion that there is no viable alternative to peat, and importing peat into the state is the exact opposite of environmentalism.
He said the three Government departments "are in hiding" and Minister Charlie McConalogue needs to take charge and bring forward legislation to provide a mechanism whereby peat can be used by the industry here until a viable alternative is found.
