Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I said there was no turf being cut on grassland. The fact is that this is rather complex. Sometimes bog was not registered in people's names and so forth, so to have 1,200 legal agreements returned to the Department is quite an achievement. Anybody who is familiar with turbary rights and bog ownership will be aware that in many cases bogs were not registered in people's names. It is complicated. When bogs were passed on either through purchase or inheritance sometimes the bog was not registered and that is a challenge for us as well as for the people who are affected. In addition, not everybody with turbary rights was an active turf cutter. It is only people who were cutting turf for the previous five years who are affected, so not everybody who owns a bog or has turbary rights on a bog will have this legal agreement applied to them.

With regard to grasslands, when these SACs were first designated, they were based on information dating back as far as the 1970s and 1980s and obviously there was some land reclamation and bog cut away. Those people are being informed now. Anybody with any connection to the NHAs in this instance is being informed, so it is much broader than the people cutting turf on them. If the Deputy has particular cases in mind, he should bring them to my attention. There is no intention to prevent anybody from carrying out their normal farming practices. I urge the Deputy to bring these cases to me and I will have them investigated.

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