Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I can only conclude the Minister did not write that reply himself, because it does not tally with what turf cutters on Moanveanlagh bog in the Listowel area have told me he stated at a public meeting there on the future of turf cutting. According to five people who the Minister knows, who attended the meeting and to whom I have spoken, the Minister stated at that meeting that the State eventually would own all the bogs and turf cutting eventually would stop. The Turf Cutters and Contractors Association have been warning people for a long time that this issue does not simply concern 53 so-called special area of conservation, SAC, bogs but would eventually result in a further 75 being affected from the beginning of next year, as well as the hundreds that are proposed NHAs. Our conclusion was that it was the ambition of the present Administration eventually to wipe out all turf cutters. The Minister can imagine our alarm when we heard from a group of turf cutters - at least the Minister told them the truth - that he had informed them that all turf cutting eventually will stop. Did the people who attended the meeting hear the Minister correctly? Five minutes before entering the Chamber, I spoke to the person who chaired that meeting, just to verify this because it is rather hard to believe the Minister would say such a thing, and he verified it. I understand he is an acquaintance of the Minister.

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