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Letter to councillors

5 March 2013

Dear Councillor;

We are this week running an advertisement in the Roscommon Herald to initiate a campaign seeking the public’s assistance in bringing to an end the wide scale unauthorised extraction of peat across the Irish midlands.

The extent of this has been demonstrated in our Reports to the national and European authorities for three years and while legislation has been revised to assist in controlling these activities – such as the elimination of the 7–year rule – on the ground nothing has happened.

Not a single Environmental Impact Assessment has yet been done on the industrial peat extraction in Ireland, including by Bord na Mona. In a test case we have taken in Westmeath, the EPA has required the first two such assessment, but there are thousands of hectares of Ireland’s midland raised bogs that are being actively and increasingly devastated without controls or protection.

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MINISTER FOR the Environment Phil Hogan has been warned that illegal turf–cutters are selling their produce door–to–door and he has been asked to introduce legislation to prevent the practice.

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Celebrity Irish gardener Diarmuid Gavin, whose ‘Westland Magical Tower Garden’ won an award last week at the Chelsea Flower Show, has been asked to visit Co. Westmeath to see the damage being caused to Irish peatlands by his sponsors, Westland Horticulture, UK.

Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] have written to Diarmuid Gavin, who led the UK Government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ campaign to phase peat out for amateur gardening altogether by 2020. He is on record as saying that “Using peat–free products in the home and garden is one of the simplest, yet most effective ways that people can make a positive environmental impact and reduce their carbon footprint.” Yet his prize–winning garden is sponsored by one of Ireland’s largest peat–producing companies, which is doing untold damage to Ireland’s natural heritage.

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Environmental organisations, An Taisce and Friends of the Irish Environment, have asked the Taoiseach to stand over his promise to defend bogs protected under law.

Peat is now being illegally extracted on 9 of the 53 protected bogs in spite of the Taoiseach’s pledge that the law would be upheld.

“Because the law is not being enforced, turf contractors are being emboldened. Starting with unlawful cutting on one or two protected bogs, the situation quickly rose to 9, and without a commitment to uphold the law, the situation could spiral out of control”, the environmental organisations have warned.

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FIE, who brought illegal turf cutting in protected areas to the attention of the European Commission and the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee in 2011,  issued a short statement ‘deeply regretting’ the decision of the TCCA to withdraw from negotiations on the end to turf cutting in protected bogs.

‘Any further cutting on protected bogs will increase the likelihood of an emergency injunction against the state, which would be a huge political embarrassment.  We will join the ranks of Poland, Malta and Italy, the only other countries which have been the subject of applications for such injunctions and we will run the risk of lump sum and daily fines that tax payers can ill afford. The European Commission will not and cannot allow Ireland to set a precedent of disregarding EU law in this way.  The Habitats Directive was negotiated and adopted unanimously by all EU Member States, including Ireland.’

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Turf Cutters' and Contractors' Association [TCCA] are continuing a series of meetings designed to inflame resistance to the lawful end to turf cutting on protected bogs next spring. They present themselves as ‘wholly innocent victims in this debacle', with the Government having ' ‘bullied, threatened, swindled and betrayed peace loving Turf Cutters'.

The Peatland Council has failed to disabuse the turf cutters of proposals they have made which are legally or scientifically impossible or impractical - including hydrological liners, de-designation, and relocation to bogs capable of restoration.

We debate the issue on the Pat Kenny Show with Luke Flannagan, the TD and spokesman for the TCCA. Read our proposal to give the turf cutters a Home Energy Programme worth up to €16,000, using the proposed compensation and grants available from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. This will tackle fuel poverty at its source and give the cutters generous recompense for their lose - an improved home that will save money on fuel far into the future.

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‘The Government has no legal advisor on this Council and the result is that the cutters are being given false expectations of continuing cutting on or adjacent to designated peatlands because of economic, social and cultural requirements - something not in fact allowed under EU law.

Changes in designation boundaries and displacement to other protected sites - as suggested - would also be illegal. Concluding an agreement based on these kind of expectations (as the Peatlands Council has) can only raised false hopes and kick the conflict down the road into another year..

Read the Peatland Council's Statement   |   Read our Press Release

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FRIENDS OF THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT

10 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PEATLANDS COUNCIL

EMERGENCY MEETING OF 1 JUNE 2011

1. Given Ireland's and the EU's climate change obligations, the ecosystem services provided by even non-designated bogs, the opportunity to alleviate fuel poverty by the wise application of the public funds being provided, and the obligation to spend public money in accordance with all policy priorities, relocation to other bogs should not be permitted as mechanical turf cutting is not compatible with conservation.

2. If relocation is permitted notwithstanding, it can not be to the 75 Raised Bogs or 73 blanket bogs which Ireland designated in 2003-2005 under national legislation as part of the terms of the agreement with the European Commission for the withdrawal of the Commission’s request to the European Court of Justice for daily fines [C-294/03].

3. Machinery must be removed from all 55 protected sites at the end of this season with carefully made consolidated peat drain blocking to take place on every drain every 12 metres [Guidelines from NPWS required].

4. Roads with no purpose other than access to SAC or NHA bogs which could be used for turf extraction or dumping to be blocked against machinery entry or indicated otherwise when blocking is unrealistic.

5. All SAC and NHA bogs must be signed at all entrances with clear information and warnings (e.g. information sign stating that the site is part of the Natura 2000 network, explanation of site's importance, warnings against damaging activities).

6. The Habitats Directive obligation to undertake surveillance of the habitats and to report regularly on the conservation status must be scheduled comprehensively for 2011 and 2012 with Hydrological/ecological monitoring to be developed for all SAC and NHA bogs and their recovery as seen at Killyconny.

7. Programmed removal of trees invading SAC or NHA raised bogs where appropriate.

8. Rangers must be instructed in writing to report all damage to ALL protected habitats when detected.

9. The forms and manner of enforcement must be made clear.

10. The Qualifying Criteria for Annuity Payment Scheme and the Relocation Scheme will be enforced and no application will be accepted by any party where turf cutting was ceased by Cabinet decision of May 2010 and yet turf cutting or associated activity is ongoing on the property or has occurred in 2011.

ENDS

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Only 1% of Ireland's raised bogs remain, and 1/3rd of them have been destroyed in the last ten years.

The report shows machinery cutting into 12 foot high turf banks, newly cleaned deep drains, acres of destroyed bog and endless fields of turf extruded from machines to dry.

Spot visits to 18 of the protected raised bog where cutting was supposed to have ceased last year shows extensive machine cutting continues on 6 of them.

The sites include Cloonchambers, the bog where TD Luke Flanagan has said he will continue cutting turf.

In total, damage that will result in a further deterioration of Ireland's raised bogs conservation status - cutting, burning, draining, adjacent extraction - was photographed on 21 of the 31 designated raised bogs visited.

Read the Report | Read the Petition to the EU Parliament

GO DIRECTLY TO THE MORE THAN 700 PHOTOGRAPHS

See our Recommedations to the Emergency Meeting of the Peatlands Council on 1 June

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luke@lukemingflanagan.ie
http://www.lukemingflanagan.ie/contact/

Re: Turf Cutting

Dear Deputy;

At the outset, may we congratulate you on your recent success in election to the Dail. We are sure that we do not have to tell you the honour and responsibility that now falls upon your shoulders.

We are, however, deeply concerned with your support for those who are choosing not to respect European legislation by engaging in mechanical turf cutting in protected areas and recent media supports suggesting that the ‘ban' on turf cutting is to be reversed .

We have been supporting measures to ensure compensation and alternative fuels since Sive DeValera gave a 10 year derogation 12 years ago:

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As the political parties further delay the issue of dealing with defiance of European law through turf cutting on Ireland’s protected raised bogs, the European Commission has issued Ireland with a new formal warning over the impact of turf cutting on protected areas. This has not been reported in the media  and no information is available from the EU or Ireland outside of the case reference [Secretary General 2010/2161 dated 26.01.11]. As complainant FIE has been informed formally of the new warning. The new move follows FIE’s forensic examination under Access to Information on the Environment of National Parks and Wildlife Service internal files. The dossier submitted on which the new proceedings rest in part is available on our site HERE.

Read about this and other developments in the Turf Wars.

Video interview   |     Press Release  |  Our peat page   |   Letter to Ming

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The Government has set the bar for requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment to be if activities "pose a significant threat to the conservation objectives" of a site. The correct legal test is if it "cannot be excluded, on the basis of objective information, that the activities will have a significant effect on that site, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects".

This key point is nowhere outlined better than in this submission to the EPA over the licensing of Westland's industrial extraction of peat in County Westmeath.

Read the Submission | Read FIE's Infringement Complaint to the EU about industrial peat extraction

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 Read our clarification

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Sirs;-

Recent statements by Councillor and Mayor Luke ‘Ming' Flannigan on RTE's Prime Time may have left viewers with certain misunderstandings of the facts.

The loss of raised bogs to turf cutting has been expressed by recent scientific reports in three ways:

• In their 2006 paper, "Assessment of impacts of turf cutting on designated raised bogs", Valverde and his co-cuthors record that: ‘All domestic [turf] cutting is for fuel peat. This activity has been going on for centuries and is the main cause for the reduction in the original raised bog area [in Ireland] from 311,000ha to current area of around 18,000ha [a reduction of over 94%]. Most of this cutting was carried out by hand but now most cutting is mechanised and appears like a scaled down version of the commercial type.'

• Ireland's 2007 Article 17 report to the European Commission required under the Habitats Directive recorded a further decrease of 36% [thirty-six] in active raised bog extent from 1994-2005.

• Finally, on 14 May 2010, Ireland's 4th National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity put it this way: ‘Raised bogs are most abundant in the lowlands of central and midwest Ireland. The habitat has been heavily exploited. It is estimated that there has been a 99% loss of the original area of actively growing raised bog, and one-third of the remaining 1% has been lost in the last 10 years.'

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AT 11.30am yesterday sixty odd Climate Campers of all ages strolled 2km from the camp beside the Shannonbridge Peat Burning Power Plant towards one of the Bord na Móna man-made brown deserts outside of the town. Equipped with some sacks, shovels, pillow cases, wheelbarrows, banners and good cheer, they started filling in the trenches made to drain the bogs with milled peat which was destined for burning at the power plant. The direct action continued for about 2 hours filling in a significant part of the trench.

Don't read the Irish Times report where EOGHAN MacCONNELL'S story about the camp must have been written some days before.

Visit the camp site  |   Read the EXCELLENT HANDBOOK, a primer on climate justice and, like the Camp, a ‘focal point for the creation of a movement in Ireland that resists the structures that have caused the climate crisis and demands justice for the affected communities, both at home and abroad'.

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Friends of the Irish Environment, who are supporting the Climate Camp at Shannonbridge, are referring Bord na Mona's immunity from prosecution under the Water Pollution Acts to the European Commission.

Section 27 of the 1946 Turf Act removed the obligation of Bord na Mona to comply with the Fisheries Acts which protect our waters. This is an infringement of EU environment law which requires protection of our water.

This case illustrates the European Commission's concern that Ireland's national laws are maintaining a system of parallel legislation which undermines EU Directives.

Press Release  |  FIE Peat Page

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CLIMATE CAMP
BORD NA MONA WATER POLLUTION IMMUNITY CHALLENGED
16 AUGUST 2009

Friends of the Irish Environment, who are supporting the Climate Camp at Shannonbridge, are referring Bord na Mona's immunity from prosecution under the Water Pollution Acts to the European Commission.

The group has pointed out that Section 27 of the 1946 Turf Act removed the obligation of Bord na Mona to comply with the Fisheries Acts which protect our waters.

FIE says ‘This is an infringement of EU environment law which requires protection of our water.

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PRESS RELEASE
FRIENDS OF THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT
17 JUNE 2009

GOVERNMENT BOG SALE STOPPED
PEAT ABSTRACTION ‘UNSUSTAINABLE'

The Department of the Environment has been embarrassed by the refusal of An Bord Pleanala to allow the development of a bog it had contracted to sell to Erin Horticulture of Kilballyskea Bog, Shinrone, County Offally for peat extraction.

The Department had been intending to use the site to relocate displaced peat producers from bogs that were designated conservation areas in the locality. When this did not happen, they offered the bog for public sale.

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One of two letters seeking the end of the immunity of Bord na Mona's operations from the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts.

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