Turf cutting ban
Fianna Fáil’s Cathal Crowe has revealed that he was “floored” to hear Minister Eamon Ryan announce a ban on the small-scale commercial selling of turf from September 1st, 2022.
The Clare TD posted a video, which he captured on one of west Clare bogs, where locals have had, for many generations, turbary rights to harvest turf, on his social media channels.
He explained that many of these people use turf domestically, but some also sell it to neighbours.
In the video, he said: “What we have seen in recent years is the scaling back hugely of the turf cutting and harvesting in the midlands by Bord na Móna.”
“However, the type of turf cutting you have in west Clare, the west of Ireland and rural counties is very different. It is very low-scale, and indeed, in some places, it is dying out entirely.”
“People who have bags of turf use it to supplement and feed into their fire during the winter season to keep their home warm. At the moment, we see a huge amount of fuel poverty; inflation is rising through the roof.”
Climate change mitigation
He stated that “while we are all for focusing on climate change and taking meaningful steps to mitigate against emissions”, this is a step too far for 2022.
He is of the view that “2022 is not the time to ban that small-scale commercial turf selling”.
Crowe stated that we “all embrace” climate change and are willing to make sacrifices.
He argued that “it is incremental. However, I think this is not the year to target people, particularly those who have cut turf for many years”.
“This is not the year to be the sale of turf sold at your local shop or fuel supplier. Things have to be scaled in and phased in. I will be making this point vociferously to the government,” he concluded.
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