‘Fire and brimstone awaits anyone who bans our coal’
‘FIRE and brimstone and hell’ awaits any politician who tries to ban the burning of coal in households, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was told yesterday.
The warning was made by Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae, a day after the Irish Daily Mail reported that the Government’s Climate Change Advisory Council has advised the State to ban the use of turf and coal in the medium term.
The recommendation came on Tuesday – the same day that a ban on traditional smoky coal was announced for the entire country from next autumn.
Mr Healy-Rae told the Dáil he was shocked to hear of the recommendation ‘urging the banning of turf and all coal sales, even smokeless’, on top of this week’s countrywide ban on bituminous or smoky coal. ‘The only guarantee I can give the Taoiseach is that if he or any politicians or ministers ever support banning the burning of coal in this country, they will be faced with every type of fire and brimstone and hell will be brought down upon them,’ he said.
Mr Healy-Rae said it was not for anybody ‘to snigger or sneer at’, adding: ‘Neither my brother (fellow TD Danny Healy-Rae) nor I would be here if it was not for turf, as our grandmother went to the bog barefoot when people had nothing, and she cut turf.
‘Our father sold turf in our village of Kilgarvan with a horse and (cart) to make a couple of pounds to keep the house going. That is where we came from.
‘Nobody should listen to advisers – I do not care who they are – who believe they can introduce a ban on the cutting of turf.’
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said his people ‘came from across the mountains and had the exact same upbringing’, but added that it still made sense to take ‘this new direction.’
The Taoiseach said he could reassure Mr Healy-Rae ‘that we have no plans for an outright ban on the burning of coal and turf’. However, he said it ‘certainly would be our objective, over time, to remove the burning of peat from power generation and perhaps the burning of coal as well in the medium to longer term’.
Environment Minister Denis Naughten has also announced a new home improvement support for people in receipt of the Government’s Turf Cutting Compensation Scheme.
The grant will offer 50% financial support to turfcutter families who want to invest in energy-efficiency improvements to bring their home up to a better Building Energy Rating, cutting down on the need for open fires.
Public workshops on this new Energy Efficiency Support Scheme will start in the New Year.