The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment has met worker directors, TDs and Government agencies to discuss the future for Bord na Móna workers in the midlands.
Richard Bruton said the decision by An Bord Pleanála not to renew permission for the ESB power plant at Shannonbridge, Co Offaly was disappointing.
He said the Government was seeking to develop a pathway for workers and their families.
The refusal of permission to keep burning peat past 2020 at the west Offaly power station has come as a shock to the region.
The station had sought permission to burn peat until 2027 while it made the transition to biomass fuel.
On his way into the offices of Offaly County Council in Tullamore, Minister Bruton said the Government was committed to delivering a fair transition for workers and the region.
In terms of alternative job creation he said Bord na Móna has been pursuing a strategy of brown to green and was looking at diversification into renewables, material management and other forms of agriculture.
Mr Bruton said the regional enterprise team has identified opportunities in a decarbonised economy as a key opportunity for the midlands.
"We want to flesh out how that can be realised. Challenges need to be planned for and I'm determined to bring back to Government a coherent development of a pathway for the midlands," he added.
On the question of job losses and redundancies, the minister said it was necessary to prepare for all eventualities.
He said the ESB would carefully scrutinise the board's decision and he would be looking at the wider challenges in the midlands.
Meanwhile, Willie Noone, of the Bord na Móna Group of Unions, said workers who had been offered an orderly exit from peat harvesting were now being "dropped off the edge" into redundancy.
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