Government Minister visits bog rehabilitation work on Bord na Mona sites in Offaly

Minister Pippa Hackett visited Derrinboy bog, close to Kilcormac, and Boora West, close to Lough Boora Discovery Park, to see progress of recent rehabilitation work.

Giving her reaction the Minister said  “ The work at Derrinbog is currently underway and the site is bare peat. Machinery was working to achieve a ‘waffle’ or grid-like land formation. Drains were being removed or blocked and embankments built up  to retain a shallow area of water in the lower, in-between areas. This promotes establishment of peat-forming vegetation like Sphagnum.”

A few kilometres north, at Boora West the Minister was shown the cutaway bog that has been re-vegetating for a few years and was re-wetted last year. Bord na Mona’s rehabilitation work is funded through the Peatland Climate Action Scheme, provided by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

“There are green shoots of hope - The Common Crane successfully hatched two chicks on rewetted cutaway bog this year. These newly created wetlands, like the one we walked at Boora West, are already providing habitat for important species of insects as well as birds and other wildlife.”

“Peatlands are vast carbon stores. On average, when a peatland is dry or damaged it emits between 4-15 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year. But, on average, an intact peatland removes approximately 2 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year from the atmosphere. At Bord na Mona sites this is monitored and measurable and although it will take time, data modelling indicates that rewetted bogland can have a climate cooling effect.”

“It is also extremely positive for our shared future that these rehabilitated bogs do and will offer a landscape that people can interact with and enjoy.”