Unless the Government urgently introduces a workable system for the sustainable harvesting of horticultural peat, 18,000 jobs supported by Ireland’s horticultural sector are at immediate risk, Growing Media Ireland (GMI) has warned.

The representative body for the majority of growing media producers in Ireland, GMI told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food on Wednesday afternoon that the country’s horticultural sector is facing an imminent crisis and will urge them to press the Government to end years of "policy paralysis" by introducing a practical, workable regulatory structure.

The organisation says such a system is long overdue and would finally implement repeated Government commitments and the recommendations of multiple official reports that have yet to be acted upon.

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GMI is calling for a workable framework – similar to those operating in other European countries - that would allow the sustainable harvesting of horticultural peat while research into alternatives continues. The Irish horticultural sector requires just 600ha, some 0.004% of Ireland’s total peatlands, to meet its domestic needs.

“Growing media producers have been left in regulatory limbo,” said GMI chair John Neenan.

“The Government has commissioned four reports since 2019, all of which concluded that while alternatives to horticultural peat should continue to be developed, Ireland needs a functioning mechanism to guarantee a domestic supply in the meantime. Yet no workable system has ever been put in place.”

He described the current application process for harvesting peat on areas under 30ha as “unworkable, incoherent and impracticable”, and said “not a single operator has successfully secured planning permission or a licence under the current regime since 2019” and, as a result, “businesses cannot plan with confidence and thousands of jobs are now under threat”.

'Absence of a clear and workable pathway'

“Neither Irish law nor EU law prohibits peat harvesting. The challenge is the absence of a clear and workable pathway through which horticultural peat extraction can be assessed and authorised," he claimed.

Ireland’s horticultural sector contributed €644m to agricultural output in 2025 and supports 7,000 jobs in primary production and a further 11,000 in amenity and downstream services, the vast majority located in rural communities.

Continued Government inaction will increase costs for growers, undermine domestic food production and force greater reliance on imported growing media, GMI warns.

Rather than simplifying operations, GMI claims that the recently enacted Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 added further uncertainty for the sector by expanding the scope of regulation to take account of historic and potential future peat extraction activity.

This could push many of the remaining domestic peat suppliers into a more onerous planning and licensing regime, forcing some to cease production altogether, the organisation fears.

GMI is calling on the Government to ensure the legislation is accompanied by a clear, proportionate and workable regulatory framework that allows the sustainable harvesting of horticultural peat while research into alternatives continues and the sector transitions over time.

“We fully accept that peat extraction must be subject to appropriate environmental safeguards, including environmental screening and, where required, environmental impact assessment,” added Neenan.

“Our concern is not the existence of environmental regulation, but the absence of a clear, consistent and workable pathway to comply with it. If the Government continues to delay, it is jobs, growers and rural Ireland that will pay the price.”