A number of TDs and senators from Fianna Fáil will formally call on Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan to suspend plans to introduce a ban on the sale of turf from September when they meet with him today (Tuesday, April 26).
Tipperary TD and chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine Jackie Cahill has said that a meeting has been arranged by a number of the party’s parliamentary members with Minister Ryan.
According to Cahill, the minister’s confirmation that he is planning to move ahead with the ban has “resulted in much upset and frustration in many parts of rural Ireland at the prospect of a sudden cessation in the cutting and selling of turf at Minister Ryan’s direction”.
“A Fianna Fáil delegation has a meeting organised with Minister Eamon Ryan this evening to discuss his proposed ban on the sale of turf.
“This is not the time to introduce this ban, as fuel prices have risen beyond all recognition,” Cahill argued.
He stressed: “There is no alternative to turf in many parts of rural Ireland.”
Cahill said that he and his party colleagues will be calling on the minister to postpone his plans.
“We will be looking for Minister Ryan to announce a suspension of this proposed ban for a period of five years, until normality returns to the fuel markets.”
“Then we can discuss this climate change initiative,” the deputy said.
The meeting with Minister Ryan comes the day after a spokesperson for the minister said there will be no ban on the gifting or sharing of turf, as was previously feared.
A spokesperson for the minister told Agriland that there would be no restrictions on sharing turf, saying: “People should be able to share with family members and elderly neighbours”.
The spokesperson also said that there will be an allowance in the new rules for people to continue to burn turf in “genuinely rural areas where there isn’t a risk of pollution”.