Ban on coal but not turf ‘would violate EU law’
A BAN on the sale of smoky coal without a ban on the sale of turf would violate EU law, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has said.
The Green Party leader added that there has been a lot of ‘confusion’ and ‘misinformation’ spread about turf-cutting in recent weeks.
He said that allowing the sale of turf to continue would be seen as a form of commercial discrimination under EU law and could be challenged in court. Minister Ryan also said that the proposed ban on the sale of turf would focus on retail and won’t target people cutting their own turf or sharing it with neighbours.
He was speaking in the Dáil yesterday during a debate on a motion brought by Roscommon-Galway Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice. Deputy Fitzmaurice said the Government needs to provide clarity on a number of issues around the proposed ban on the commercial sale of turf later this year. The motion called for the Dáil to recognise that turf is an ‘affordable solid fuel’, that many people are dependent on solid fuel to warm their homes, and to exempt people who have rights to harvest turf.
Mr Ryan said the Government wasn’t opposing Deputy Fitzmaurice’s motion because ‘we need to clear the air’ as there has been a ‘lot of confusion, fear and misinformation’ surrounding the issue.
He said the Government committed to extending the smoky coal ban nationwide in the Programme for Government but that they knew they would have to deal with the issue of turf and wet wood. ‘In the public consultation which happened in September last year, and before that, we made it very clear that we were willing to take certain legal risks because there are legal risks,’ he said.
The minister added that they couldn’t target the commercial sale of smoky coal around the country without doing the same thing for turf and wet wood, or else it could be challenged.
‘Under European law it seems categoric that you can’t discriminate between one product versus the other; you have to regulate across,’ he said.
‘What we’re going to do is regulate at the retail level, at the commercial distribution level, and not for those who are taking from their own bog or sharing with neighbours in that kind of rural tradition. That’s not the ban we’re talking about. We’re looking to regulate the commercial retail aspect of this. I’m still committed to that and the Government I believe is too... It is manageable in terms of those who have that traditional use and access to a bog but which does regulate at the retail level.’
He added: ‘We’re in the middle of the consultation process with the European Commission which we have to do. We may have to talk to them again because we are going to amend them, listening to some of the voices and views here.
‘But we will get that right and we’ll introduce it in the autumn in a way that allows us to get that balance right.’
Deputy Fitzmaurice said that while the conversation about turfcutting has been largely about turbary rights, there are a lot more turf-cutting rights that are not being considered.
‘Confusion and misinformation’