Bord na Móna has rewet 13,000ha of peatland across 38 bogs, according to its head of ecology and bog rehabilitation, Dr Mark McCorry.

Dr McCorry said that the former peat extractor is now working with other state bodies, such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), in Wicklow and Mayo to rewet more land.

He explained that for every 10cm rise in the water table on a hectare of rewet land, 3t of carbon is taken from the atmosphere.

The Bord na Móna bog rehabilitation lead warned “we need to be more careful in our language” concerning rewetting and claimed that raising the water table “doesn’t mean that land use will change in that field”.