‘All we wanted to do was cut the turf’

James Hackett is the fifth generation of Hacketts to cut turf on the family plot and he insists he will continue his fight alongside his father Pat.

“We are from the area here and all we wanted to do was try and cut the turf as is our right. We brought in the machinery to do the job on Tuesday and we were ready to cut, but the guards came along and stopped us,” said James.

“I am cutting turf here all my life and my great-great grandfather cut turf here too on the same bog, on the same plot of land. The plot is on our deeds for the land and we have turbary rights to cut there. It is all mapped out on the deeds.”