John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I have heard Deputy Connaughton speak about this issue, which is clearly of great interest to him, on many occasions. I have been associated with turf-cutting in my own constituency of Laois-Offaly over the years. I may have plenty of time to cut turf in the future.

The State has a legal obligation under the habitats directive and under the Wildlife Acts to protect sites it has designated for conservation purposes. A number of sites have been designated for the protection of raised bog habitat within special areas of conservation, SACs, or natural heritage areas, NHAs. These make up just over 4% of bogland in the State where turf extraction is feasible.

Ireland's raised bogs are important and unique habitats hosting ecosystems that are extremely rare. In recent history almost all of western Europe's peatlands have disappeared or been severely damaged. While Ireland has approximately 60% of the remaining uncut areas, less than 1% remains of our active raised bog, that is, raised bog on which the indigenous flora are still growing and where peat is forming.

Scientific evidence has shown that turf-cutting and associated drainage, including cutting for domestic supply only, is incompatible with the preservation or restoration of raised bogs. For this reason, in May 2010, the Government confirmed the ending of the derogation which allowed a ten-year continuation of turf-cutting for domestic purposes on raised bog SACs and NHAs. Cutting is no longer permitted on the first 31 of these sites without the express consent of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The Government has also decided that cutting will cease on a further 24 raised bog SACs from the end of this year and on 75 raised bog NHAs in 2013. The Government decision related to domestic cutting applies on selected raised bog protected sites - not blanket bogs, which are much more extensive in area. However, restrictions introduced in 1999 relating to turf-cutting on designated blanket bogs continue to apply.

It is not possible to reconsider this matter. Ireland has a clear legal obligation to protect these sites. To fail to do so would inevitably render the State liable to significant financial sanctions imposed by the European Court of Justice. The Government accepts there is a need to compensate those who have a legal right to cut turf in these designated sites and who will suffer a loss due to the restrictions arising from the protection of such sites. An interim compensation scheme was established to compensate those who have been cutting turf on the 31 raised bog sites on which cutting was no longer permitted from 2010. Just under €200,000 was paid out in 2010 to ensure those affected by that cessation had the means to provide alternative winter fuel.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Office of the Attorney General are examining how the interests of affected parties can be addressed in the longer term. The Minister, Deputy John Gormley, intends to revert to Government shortly regarding the arrangements for those affected by the requirement to cease turf-cutting on protected raised bogs, including putting in place appropriate compensation arrangements.

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