Cutting and footing turf is part of rural heritage

People with turbary rights and all other customary practices will still be able to cut turf for their own use and retain the ability to gift or sell it.

It will no longer be possible to sell turf from retail premises such as shops, petrol stations or fuel depots and selling it online or through any traditional media channels will no longer be permitted. File Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

PEOPLE in Sliabh Luachra, straddling the Kerry-Cork border, tell a story about an old man who made the most of a dry week in a wet year during the Second World War to cut his bank of turf.

But he nodded off to sleep from exhaustion during Mass in Scartaglen Church one Sunday morning, only to be awakened by the sound of rain hitting off the roof. "Bogs are finished", he shouted, as the priest ended his sermon and his neighbours tried to keep straight faces.