The Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae has sparked a war of words between environmentalists and those involved in the forestry industry by suggesting that Ireland should reconsider the planting of peatlands.

The minister claimed that Ireland would have 80% less mature forests if the current restrictions on the planting of peatlands had been introduced 20 or 30 years ago.

Ireland will have to import timber from Scotland if it is “married” to the existing policy of not allowing planting where there is more than 30cm of peat, Minister Healy-Rae told the Seanad.

“That is why I and my officials in the Department will look at planting more peatland,” he said.

His comments provoked a furious response from environmentalists and support from forestry groups.

"Ireland's peatlands are meant to be open landscapes, and treating them as wastelands and only seeing them as areas to destroy and turn into industrial forestry is not recognising their importance" said Irish Peatland Conservation Council policy officer Tristram Whyte.

"Planting trees on peatlands dries them out, leading to increased carbon emissions to air and our rivers, rather than sequestration. It also threatens species that rely on these wetland environments, including curlews, sphagnum mosses, and dragonflies," he added.

“We call on the Government to reject any proposals for tree planting on peatlands and instead invest in conservation and restoration efforts," added Whyte.

"Ireland has a responsibility to protect these landscapes, not to degrade them further."

But the forestry sector has applauded Minister Healy-Rae’s comments.

"SEEFA fully support minister Michael Healy-Rae’s position on this issue," a spokesperson for the Social, Economic and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) said.

He pointed out that just 11% of Ireland’s land area was under forests, which is well below the EU average.

“Nobody is advocating the planting of deep peats, but trees should be an option where there is shallow peatland that is suitable for forestry,” the SEEFA spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Consideration has to be given to the environmental and economic benefits of forestry,” the spokesperson added.

“The production of home-grown timber was never more important,” he said.

“SEEFA would support peer-reviewed, science-based, research on the planting of forestry in shallow peat soils,” the spokesperson insisted.