Deal seals turf-cutting ban on protected bogs and compensation

TURF will no longer be cut on 54 EU designated habitat sites after a last minute deal was struck between turf cutters and the Irish Peatlands Council.

At an emergency meeting in Ballinasloe it was agreed both sides would “trust one another” and that over the summer turf cutters and the IPC “will together identify new relocation sites” where they can cut turf instead. The turf cutters will also be able to avail of a compensation package to make up for the loss of their own original bogs. An appeals process is to be established around the compensation scheme.

Cutting turf on 31 raised bogs has already been banned by the EU and the ban is due to be extended to 24 more by the end of the year.

Last month Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan said enforcement action would be taken where turf cutting on protected raised bogs continued.

Following this, Mr Skehan said he was contacted by a raft of concerned people and the situation had “blown up”.

Yesterday’s meeting was between all the stakeholders — Irish Farmers Association, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council, the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association, the Irish Rural Link, the Irish Environment Network, Bord na Móna and the National Parks and Wildlife Service — to get a consensus that all parties would sign an agreement to stick to their promises.

The EU is understood to be particularly annoyed that the issue has not been resolved. Ireland faces huge fines if turf cutting continues.

“The issue is a highly emotive one as turf cutters claim they have never been properly compensated for what has been coming down the tracks for 15 years,” Mr Skehan said earlier yesterday.

“What is needed is certainty, certainty that the people will no longer cut turf on 54 raised bogs which are protected under the EU directive.”

Mr Skehan, former director of Bord na Móna and a lecturer at DIT’s School of Spatial Planning, said Ireland had been given “pots of money” in the past to make alternative arrangements for people but it had never been properly taken care of.

“Official efforts to deal with this have been prohibition and punishment, but deals offered to the turf cutters have never been delivered.

“This is a very emotive issue for people who have cutting turf some times on family land for generations.

“What we need is for people to get off the bogs immediately and the second thing is to make sure those people are compensated in the way they have been promised.”

Mr Skehan had also said the Government needed to show Brussels that the problem was being addressed.