Workers' anger over legal letters to Bord na Mona on peat harvesting

Independent TD for Laois Offaly Carol Nolan has said there is significant anger among workers and peat harvesters following legal correspondence issued by Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) to Bord na Mona Chief Executive Tom Donnellan.

Deputy Nolan was speaking after FIE informed Mr Donnellan that it was putting him “on notice” with respect to any peat harvesting works or development that may carried out, without “development consent.” The legal instruction followed on from the recent decision by An Bord Pleanála to allow Bord Na Mona apply for substitute consent; a move that brought the company one step closer to full scale peat harvesting in excess of 30 hectares:

“This is a hugely frustrating development and one that will cause real anger among workers and industries who were banking on the renewal of peat harvesting this year.

She said it was “totally unacceptable” that Bord na Mona and its workers are once again operating under the shadow of legal threats.

 

FIE said that its solicitors have warned Bord na Mona and the leading industrial peat extraction organisations that the recent decision by An Bord Pleanala to allow Bord na Mona to apply for ‘substitute consent’ does not permit peat harvesting to recommence.
 
According to FIE a decision to grant leave to apply for substitute consent simply permits a further application for substitute consent.  In no way is development authorised by these decisions.’
 

FIE said it also sent letters to officers of Turf Cutters and Contractors’ Association [TCCA], including Michael Fitzmaurice TD and Luke Ming Flanagan MEP as well as Growing Media Ireland (GMI) which represents the majority of the country’s privately-owned producers of horticulture peat.
 
FIE had the State’s January 2019 Statutory Instrument attempting to exempt industrial scale peat cutting struck down by the High Court last autumn.

In the letters, they warned that ‘the requirement for planning permission for sites of over 30 hectares is the law and any extraction undertaken without permission is unauthorised’. Sites of over 10 hectares require planning permission but not an Environmental Impact Assessment.

‘We have spent 8 years in the Courts simply to have the requirements of the Environmental Impact Directive  applied to this industry. We believe that when the consequences of this activity are properly and fully examined, it will be obvious that our bogs must urgently be rewetted to meet our biodiversity commitments, to attenuate flooding, and to allow them to return to their natural function in absorbing greenhouse gases.’
However, Deputy Nolan said: “There appears to be only one goal here for Friends of the Irish Environment; and that is the effective obliteration of peat harvesting and traditional peat extraction.

“We must prioritise the introduction of legal protections that will enable Bord na Mona and all those who rely on peat harvesting to enjoy a measure of continuity.

For now, however, FOIE seem intent on engaging in a heavy-handed and divisive manner. 

“This is a matter of genuine regret for all those workers who live in the real world and not in some green fantasy where jobs can be threatened with no apparent consideration for the consequences that this will bring,” concluded Deputy Nolan.