Department defends new bog rules

THE Department of Environment has insisted that new EU regulations requiring planning permission and environmental impact assessments (EIA) for small plots of bog will not adversely affect domestic turf-cutting operations.

The department said they were introduced last July to comply with a European Commission finding that Ireland continued to be in breach of a directive in relation to EIAs.

Minister Dick Roche said Ireland would otherwise have been subject to a daily fine of €21,600 as long as it was in breach of directives.

Until this year, small peat areas (less than 10 hectares) were excluded from the planning process and the need to carry out a EIA.

But new regulations mean operators of small peat areas could be required to seek planning permission and to submit an environmental impact statement if the local authority considers it “will have a significant effect on the environment”.

Raidió na Gaeltachta has reported that some small turf-extraction co-operatives, like Comharchumann Íobharach in Kerry and Comharchumann Shailearna in Connemara, believe the regulations impose onerous costs and conditions on turf-cutting. They say it could drive them out of business and prevent families from cutting turf for domestic use.

The Department yesterday said the European Court of Justice ruled in September 1999 that Ireland was in breach of the directive on EIAs. The Government introduced regulations in 2001 to address the judgment but these exempted plots below 10 acres in size, as well as plots where drainage had already occurred.

The European Commission later decided the 2001 regulations had not gone far enough and in 2003 sought a daily fine of €21,600 against Ireland for breaches of the directive.

The department yesterday said the exemption will no longer apply to smaller plots where peat extraction is likely to have significant effects on the environment.

“Overall, it is not anticipated that the new regulations will have any major impact on domestic turf cutting,” it said.

Fine Gael spokesman Denis Naughten said: “All of a sudden, individuals cutting three or four spreads of turf for their use will have to apply for planning permission and conduct an EIA.”