Backbench revolt threat over proposed turf ban

... and furious TDs plan to vote against controversial scheme

COALITION leaders fear angry Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers will vote against the Government in any Dáil motion on controversial plans to ban the sale of turf.

Fears of a backbench revolt come amid growing anger at Green Party leader Eamon Ryan’s handling of the issue.

Ministers are furious about the impact the furore is having on the Government’s response to hyperinflation and the soaring cost of living.

And there are growing concerns that rural-based Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs are prepared to lose the party whip if a potentially embarrassing motion on the turf ban is brought before the Dáil, in recess for a fortnight, when it returns after the Easter break.

One minister told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The hope is that the elongated Easter break will calm the thing down but the fear is someone, [Michael] Fitzmaurice or the Healy-Raes or Sinn Féin will put down a motion.

‘If they do there will be casualties, people will lose the whip over that, this has caused more trouble than the rod licence.’

Tensions remain high, despite Mr Ryan’s bid to back away from the row by saying the Government would not put anyone’s ‘granny in prison for burning turf’.

Confusion over the proposed ban was sown after Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar told party members the plan to stop the sale of turf was being paused. The Tánaiste told TDs and senators that telling those who cut and sell turf they can no longer do so was ‘like telling the French they can’t have wine or the Italians they can’t have pasta’.

However, a spokesman for Mr Ryan subsequently denied any pause was being planned.

News of the impending ban sparked a major backlash from rural-based backbenchers.

In an indication of the anger directed at the Greens, one veteran Government TD branded Mr Ryan ‘a nitwit only fit to cause trouble’.

Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill, who is chair of the influential Agriculture Committee, told the MoS, ‘My phone is pure red from this issue’.

The Tipperary TD also criticised the Green leader for creating a mess ‘that was utterly avoidable’.

He added: ‘In the overall context of climate change, turf cutting is a ripple in the ocean. It will die out naturally. This was like picking a quarrel with a dying man.

‘I have spoken to the Taoiseach and other Fianna Fáil ministers and made my position clear. This should not have happened at a time where there is a fuel crisis.’

Fine Gael TD and former minister Michael Ring said of the proposed ban, ‘It won’t happen or there will be a general election. It is as simple as that. It is a step too far’.

He also slammed the ‘daft’ nature of a proposal to cut national fuel resources ‘in the middle of a war’.

The Mayo TD told the MoS: ‘The Government should be aware turf is dying a natural death. The new generation will not be involved.

‘This is not about the turf alone. It is the spark to a far bigger conflagration than I thought: it’s about the inability of an urban elite to leave rural people alone and it has to be stopped.’

Cabinet members are also angry about how the issue has been allowed to flare up.

One minister said: ‘The Greens have landed us in this and Ryan’s attempt at a U-turn isn’t working. It was politically inelegant.’

Independent rural TD Sean Canney also warned ‘there will be war’ over the controversial turf ban.

Mr Canney said: ‘One 76-year-old lady asked me, “Are the Greens coming to rip out my Stanley range and put in an air pump? I do all my cooking and baking, all my heat and hot water for the last five decades. The range will do me until I go no matter what the minister says”.’

‘This has caused more trouble than rod licence’