Former Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has echoed calls earlier in the week to reopen bogs in order to harvest peat for energy.

The resumption of peat harvesting in Finland should pave the way for Ireland to reopen its bogs, the former minister has argued.

As the war in Ukraine continues to impact the price of oil, coal and gas, there have been calls to resume peat harvesting.

While there is no ban, it must comply with EU law. This sets out that large-scale peat extraction needs both planning permission and EPA licensing, including an assessment of environmental and climate impacts.

In 2019, Bord na Móna confirmed that it would no longer issue licences to commercial contractors. Earlier this week, Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice said he believed bogs should be reopened.

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This was echoed by Fine Gael TD and former justice minister Charlie Flanagan, who said that while he accepted it was a controversial issue, things have changed 'drastically'.

Mr Flanagan pointed to Finland, also an EU state, where state-owned Neova Group announced earlier this week it has reversed its decision to stop peat production.

Mr Flanagan said: "In terms of energy policy and in terms of the horticulture industry, I think that strategy should be reassessed. From an EU point of view, we see the coal industry being ramped up in Germany and Poland. We see countries which have banned Russian coal now proposing to do deals in Colombia and Venezuela.

"The world order has been upended. This is a crisis; an energy crisis and a potential fuel crisis."

Mr Flanagan said that he thinks the reassessment of our peat harvesting industry should be "temporary' and 'would hopefully be for no more than maybe two years".

The Green Party's Neasa Hourigan said rules surrounding bogs are governed by EU law and it is a "long journey" to overturn them.

"The bogs question is not realistic," she told Claire Byrne on RTÉ radio. "That is an EU issue."

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan also dismissed suggestions of reopening bogs earlier this week, saying that emphasis needed to be placed on renewable energy.

Mr Flanagan said that while he does agree with Minister Ryan's statements on renewable energy, "we are dealing with a crisis".