Chaos and uncertainty over proposal to ban turf sales

There have been calls for clarity amidst ongoing uncertainty over Government plans to restrict the sale of turf.

The chaos arose as a result of contradictory remarks from senior political figures in the wake of confirmation by Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan in the Dail last week that new regulations on solid fuels due to take effect from September 1 would prohibit the sale or distribution of peat to others.

Fine Gael party leader Leo Varadkar was reported to have told the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday night that the plan had been 'paused'.

He later doubled down by telling RTE that there was no agreement at the moment in Government to go ahead with a prohibition on the sale and distribution of turf.

However, Minister Ryan yesterday insisted the plan would proceed, but appeared to provide some clarification that the ban was focused on “big distribution” and that it was not planned to ban distribution or sale between neighbours.

“It’s not (that) we’re going to put your granny in prison for burning turf from down the road, but it is getting it right where we get our air quality improved,” he told reporters at an event yesterday in Dublin.

It was not clear how legislation could distinguish between those who sell turf on a large commercial basis from those who distribute locally to neighbours and within a rural community.

The uncertainty prompted Independent TD for Laois Offaly Carol Nolan to call for absolute clarity on the status of the proposed ban on the sale, marketing, and distribution of sod turf.

“The people of rural Ireland who are deeply opposed to this ban deserve better than to have the issue subjected to petty squabbling among Government parties,” Deputy Nolan said.

“They deserve a clear and decisive rejection, not in a few weeks, not after a ‘pause’, but today.”

“It is simply disgraceful that Government would first instil fear and concern, particularly into the many elderly people who utilise turf for home heating, but to then go on and compound this position with political ambivalence - that is just not acceptable. We cannot have the Lanigan’s Ball approach of one step in and one step out.”

“The proposals to ban the sale, marketing, and distribution of turf was never going to be accepted in counties like Offaly and indeed beyond. It amounted to little more than an informers charter, turning neighbour against neighbour,” the Independent TD stated.

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In his Dail reply last week that sparked the controversy, Minister Ryan told Deputy Brendan Griffin that people who have turbary (turf cutting) rights would continue to be allowed to extract peat to heat their own dwelling.

However, he explicitly said these people would not be permitted to place it on the market for sale or distribution to others.

Minister Ryan said the new regulations were required as each year some 1,300 people die prematurely in Ireland due to air pollution from solid fuel burning.

“Turf cutting by citizens for use in their own homes is a traditional activity across many peatlands, and while measures are required to reduce the emissions associated with burning peat, these traditions will be respected,” he acknowledged.

He said there would be no ban on the cutting or burning of peat but a ban on putting turf on the market for sale or distribution would be introduced.

It prompted Deputy Nolan to ask: “Are we really at the stage where a rural family with a sign outside their property advertising the sale of a few bags of turf are to be treated as eco-criminals? This is grossly disproportionate and unjust, and it needs to be resisted immediately from every rural and indeed every urban TD within the Government,”

Fianna Fáil TD for Offaly Barry Cowen said he would meet Minister Eamon Ryan to discuss concerns regarding proposals for an outright ‘cliff-edge’ ban on the commercial sale of turf.

“’ll be seeking to ensure that there is a means of recognising the long-standing relationship between many households and commercial cutters without a cliff-edge ban on the transaction between the two," Deputy Cowen commented.

“We can live with the banning of sales at filling stations, retail outlets or the side of the road, but there should be an allowance made for dependent households and bogowners/cutters.”

The Offaly TD had already stated that “some commercial turf-cutters have annual customers in localities where many homeowners don’t have their own plot and rely on these suppliers. It is those families and those providers who are impacted by a commercial sale ban.

Local Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley called on the Government not to introduce a ban on the sale of turf for domestic use.

“If this ban goes ahead it will hit midland house holders such as Laois/Offaly the hardest and penalise those who are depending on turf to heat their homes and also for cooking.

“It makes no sense at this time to introduce a ban while high polluting coal and briquettes are being transported thousands of miles from Eastern Europe. There is also the massive carbon footprint that is generated in hauling these fuels long distances. At the same time the Government are determined to stop people cutting turf a few miles from their own home.

It is the wrong move at the wrong time in the middle of a fuel and cost of living crisis. It will cause real hardship at a time when home heating oil has doubled in price and the price of other fuels have skyrocketed.’’

“What this Government has chosen to ignore is, that there are no affordable alternatives available for tens of thousands of house holders in the Midlands.”