Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when it is proposed to stop bog owners from cutting their own domestic turf supplied on a bog (details supplied) in County Galway; the position for owners of such bogs who will not accept the new increased compensation packages; if such owners will be allowed to keep on cutting their own domestic supplies after the expiry date passes; if his Department will provide alternative turbary plots within acceptable and sensible distances from the locations in which they live; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5216/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Save in exceptional circumstances, owners of bog or turbary in raised bogs designated for conservation are being allowed to continue domestic cutting on their plots for up to ten years. For bogs such asCarrownagoppul bog, which was statutorily proposed for designation prior to 1999, people will be allowed to continue to cut until 2008. My Department will then review whether there are particular circumstances in which domestic turf cutting can continue on raised bogs without damaging the bogs. All sales of bog or turbary to my Department are voluntary with a recourse to arbitration, if appropriate. The possibility of my Department providing alternative turbary plots on other bogs has been examined but this has not proved a practical proposition.