Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I wish to provide some background to the debate. I acknowledge and pay tribute to Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan for tabling the motion and the Minister for his response which goes some way without going the whole way. The real background to the debate concerns issues in regard to fuel poverty and rural incomes.

Rural household incomes in the midlands are 9.4% below the national average. The majority of affected bogs are located in counties with the lowest disposable income. This must be a central factor when making arrangements to stop cutting turf. Turf is a very inexpensive source of fuel, being up to 60% cheaper than oil. The cost of turf is in the labour.

A cessation policy will expose another significant number of households to fuel poverty. It is estimated that between 4,000 and 5,000 households will be directly effected by outright cessation. Many at risk of fuel poverty face costs of converting existing heating systems and would need to purchase more expensive fuels. Their needs must be given priority. We have had derogations for ten years with further derogations for certain bogs for one year at a time since, with 75 natural heritage areas concluding at the end of 2013.

Last year, during the course of the general election when the issue was live in rural and midland constituencies, we had wild abandon from certain Members of the Minister's Party and the Labour Party who made cynical promises calling for the ban to be lifted without acknowledging the templates for resolution that had just been put in place. I acknowledge he has now used those in instances and has provided for improvements in those templates. However, I remind the Minister there were cynical calls and much politics played by the Government side this time last year.

As a public representative in recent years, especially as a councillor, I have dealt with three different classes of turf cutters in efforts to resolve these issues with real and workable solutions. The first are those who have or had title to turf banks or turbary rights and who cut for their heating needs annually. Second, there are those who did not necessarily have title or turbary rights but who cut annually for their families on lands or bogs known as commonage. Third, there are those families whose area of bog extends well beyond what might be expected to be a life time area of ground for cutting. As stated, one acre of bog equals roughly 60 years supply. While some of those involved are commercial cutters they are serving the needs of those who have no access to turf, which must be acknowledged.

In my experience, a solution for the first category has been available for the past six to 12 months. An example in this regard is the bog in my own area of Clara and The Island in respect of which families and turf cutters have engaged through Irish Rural Link with the OPW, the IFA, Bord na Móna and Coillte and come up with credible and flexible solutions in the form of an alternative bog four or five miles away. In many instances, the bogs given to these familes are even more productive and will be longer lasting than were those in which they were cutting in the first instance.

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