Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

In the five minutes at my disposal I shall condense a subject that one might spend two hours discussing. I raised the matter many times in this House but never in the teeth of the situation that pertains today. As I understand it, under an EU Habitats Directive, on 1 January 2010 the derogation ran out for turf cutters on 32 designated bogs. This means that thousands of Irish turf cutters - I count myself as one - will be shunted off our bogs this coming summer. We find it extremely difficult to understand how any Government or European Union bureaucrat would organise a scheme whereby ordinary turf cutters are not allowed to cut their own domestic supply on their bogs at a time when the price of a barrel of crude oil is rising by the day and we are in the middle of the worst recession since the 1930s. It is unbelievable that a Government would stand for this carry on.

I am delighted the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, is present but am equally sorry the Minister concerned, Deputy Gormley, to whom we spoke during a previous debate, is not in the House. This is his watch.

Only a fraction of these bogs are cut. I can only speak for the bog I know best, Carnogopple in my parish. It measures 1,200 acres, of which the State owns almost 1,000. The turf cutters control only 120 acres and cut perhaps only an acre or and an acre and a half between them every year. It is against that background that we cannot understand why we cannot be allowed to continue to cut our 10% of the bog as we have been doing for generations while the other 90% is subject to conservation. The same situation applies to most of the other 31 bogs over the country but primarily those in the west of Ireland.

In the 1930s my grandfather got a small holding of land from the Land Commission, as did thousands of other Irish farmers. That body was so far seeing at the time it ensured that every man around the country like my grandfather got an acre of bog. It was sustainability, that big word of the Green Party nowadays. It ensured they could have their cooking and heating as part of the overall package of their everyday life. They had no need of imported fuels. In the fullness of time my grandfather transferred the right to my father who, in turn, transferred it to me. I am in a lucky position. I have a son to whom I will transfer my right and am equally delighted to say I have a grandson to whom I hope it will go in the fullness of time. I will not be the weak link in that generation chain and allow the bureaucrats of Brussels or the Government stop us from doing something that is so very traditional and so very Irish. It has almost no effects on climate change or on anything of that kind.

Because of who he is and where he comes from, I know the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, will understand fully what I am talking about. If he got half a chance he would echo my exact words. I genuinely believe that the thousands of people who will be discommoded will not allow this to happen, on model grounds. They will cut their turf this year in the ordinary way and will believe themselves within the law, as I believe they - and I - will be. The Minister set up an interdepartmental committee last September. We have heard nothing from him and I want to know where we stand because there are only six weeks to go before the start of the turf cutting campaign.

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