Probes begin as turfcutters’ protest ends after 18 hours

A row which threatened to drag on for weeks was resolved yesterday when talks between high-ranking officials from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the gardaí, and turfcutters resulted in the end of an 18-hour protest at Clonmoylan bog in Co Galway.

More than 200 local turfcutters had braved the weather and maintained their overnight stand-off after being stopped from cutting turf on the protected bogs in the south of Galway near Portumna.

Protests at the bog started when the NPWS seized turf-cutting machinery on Wednesday afternoon, which triggered the arrival of protesters from all over the West of Ireland and from as far off as Kerry.