We will be bogged down in court as Commission takes turf-cutting action
IRELAND is being taken to court by the European Commission for failing to stop turfcutting on protected bogs.
The decision to refer the issue to the EU Court of Justice comes after 13 years of warnings.
In a strongly worded statement, the Commission said it was referring Ireland to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to apply the Habitats Directive to protect raised bog and blanket bog sites.
It said the directive required member states to designate their most precious natural habitats and to protect them from harmful activities.
‘These sites in Ireland continue to be degraded through drainage and turf cutting activities, and insufficient action is being taken to restore the sites,’ it said.
‘These areas are biodiversity hotspots playing host to important insect and bird species.’
It said the bogs were categorised as ‘priority’ habitats under the directive due to their unique qualities.
‘Peat bogs are also vital carbon sinks when healthy, while a UN report estimated that Ireland’s degraded peatlands emit 21.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year,’ it noted.
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Ireland in January 2011, followed by a reasoned opinion in June 2011.
‘Despite some progress, the Irish authorities have not fully addressed the shortcomings,’ the
Commission said. ‘For instance, whilst some restoration work has been undertaken on raised bog sites, no action has been taken regarding blanket bog sites where Ireland has failed to put in place an effective regulatory regime to protect these unique bog sites.’
The Commission sent an additional reasoned opinion in September 2022.
It said it now considered that efforts by the Irish authorities have, to date, been ‘insufficient’, hence the referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
It said Ireland hosts some of the most unique active raised bog sites in the EU, as well as large areas of still active blanket bog.
The Commission has said that their protection and restoration could assist Ireland in meeting its climate change goals, not only by keeping healthy peat in the ground but also avoiding emissions when the peat is burned as a fuel.
‘While traditionally families cut peat by hand, cutting today is done by machine resulting in additional damage to the structure of these sites,’ it noted.
‘Digging and drainage fundamentally undermines their hydrology, making restoration challenging.
‘Ireland must redouble its efforts to move turf cutting machines away from these sites before the damage done makes restoration impossible.’
Industrial scale turf-cutting has largely stopped here but commercial cutting still continues, and attempts to curb it have proved politically explosive.
In 2022, the sale or gifting of turf was to be banned wholesale in an attempt to reduce air pollution levels.
After a backlash, it was agreed that anyone with turbary rights – where a family owns a plot of bog and cuts it to produce turf for their own use – could continue to give turf to their neighbours.
The new regulations, however, warn that anyone burning turf could be prosecuted if they create air pollution or become a nuisance to neighbours.
Following the Commission’s announcement, Seán Canney, Independent TD for Galway East, called on the Irish Government to defend ‘the right of people to cut turf ’.
‘The Irish Government need to put Irish citizens first and protect them and their right to cut turf for their own use,’ he said.
‘Ireland must redouble its efforts’