John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement made yesterday by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, on the turf cutting issue. Because of the great work the Minister has done, the number of planned designated natural heritage area, NHA, bogs havs been reduced from 3,000 to 500. In other words, 2,500 bogs have been de-designated. In my native county of Roscommon 435 plots were to be designated as NHAs; turf cutting will now be allowed on 376 of them. Another point on NHAs is that those who had been affected by a special area of conservation, SAC, designation and could no longer cut turf can also transfer to an NHA bog, if it is suitable. Alternatively, they can continue to claim compensation. In addition, the Minister also announced that in the event of someone not being able to cut turf in an SAC and for whom an NHA is not available and no alternative is available but who wishes to cut turf, the Minister can revert to the European Union and present a case to the authorities there on such person's behalf. He is quite prepared to do this.

I also addressed the Minister yesterday on the issue of contractors, who have a large investment in this business and are affected as a result of it. He stated he was offering them an olive branch, in that there would be a job of work to be done in repairing the damage done to SACs and NHAs, and that they could play their part in that regard. I hope people can recall the major row that took place over this issue, involving confrontation and stand-offs. One should be mindful of the fact that this issue is very similar to those in respect of pylons and wind turbines. I hope the Government has learned from this and that we need never go down this road again or spend years arguing and fighting before it eventually is obliged to row back. I certainly welcome newspaper reports today to the effect that the Taoiseach somehow is rowing back from this issue. I hope this is not a stunt to get MEPs elected and that the initiative is real and that people are taking this issue seriously.