John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I will not repeat everything that has been said because the facts concerning the current position and how it was arrived at have been presented well by Senator Eamonn Coghlan. Turf cutting is an age-old tradition, which is the reason plans to ban the activity have proven to be so contentious. All one hears is that a person's father and his father before him cut turf, and this point is being repeated everywhere one goes. I am well aware that 53 raised bogs had been nominated between 1997 and 2002 and that in May 2010, the then Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government announced that turf cutting on those bogs was over. At the time, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs also was told that Ireland could be facing fines of €25,000 per day. The big pity in this regard, and this is not the Minister's fault, is that is when an independently chaired Peatlands Council should have been set up in order that we would have had time on our hands to resolve all these issues.. Unfortunately, all these issues just kicked off in 2011 once the announcement was made, and I believe Senator Daly also made this point as well. The Government of which he was a supporter was partly to blame for this as it did not deal with this issue at the time.

Two years later, efforts are being made to play catch-up in this regard and the Government, slowly and gradually, is trying to resolve the outstanding issues. Moreover, the ban on turf cutting was proposed at a time when Ireland was in recession, and perhaps an argument should have been made to the European Union to the effect that fuel costs were soaring, the prices of everything were rising and people on the margins simply needed to cut turf. As for the compensation package, I believe there has been a huge take-up on it. At times, payouts under the package have been slow, and at times, there have been issues with title, which I understand cannot be sorted out overnight. I urge the Minister to deal with those issues and get a resolution to them, particularly the €500 once-off payment, in order that people can finally sign up to this deal.

I believe increasing numbers of people are willing to come on board. A total of 3,690 payments and 264 deliveries of turf have taken place. As Senator Coghlan stated, more than €6 million has been paid to date.

The Department continues to develop a national raised bogs special areas of conservation, SAC, management plan, as called for by the unanimous vote of Dáil Éireann and agreed with the European Commission, to underpin the long-term approach to the restoration and management of each SAC. This approach may unlock some limited flexibility available under the habitats directive to find solutions for the most difficult cases where relocation options may be limited or non-existent. This is crucial to resolving the problems we have at present. What is this flexibility? Will part of it consider reversing the designation of certain bogs to allow turf cutting take place? I do not condone breaking the law and at no stage do I agree with illegal turf cutting. That said and as I have told the Minister, I have the greatest sympathy for many of the contractors. To resolve this problem not only must the Minister consider the turf cutters but also the contractors and involve them. They have invested hundreds and thousands of euro in their machinery and overnight they were told they are gone.

I will conclude with a funny story showing the human side to all of this. I met a lady in the supermarket who asked me to come to the house to help Daddy fill out the compensation form. I called out and Daddy was sitting in the corner. The button of his shirt was open and I do not think his trousers were tied on too well. His wife was sweeping, making tea and telling him he was too old to cut turf, to give it up, to fill out the form, to close his button and not to spill the tea. He turned to me and said it is great to get out of the house. The sum of €1,500 a year is not enough compensation for this poor man.