The original map of bogs in Iveragh, south Kerry, along with extracts from the report on the area by Alexander Nimmo, a Scottish engineer working for the Bogs Commissioners in 1811, have been republished.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, who comes from Caherciveen in Iveragh, launched the map, which was published with support from the Heritage Council.
The Bogs Commissioners believed that, far from being a liability, the bogs might "with appropriate development provide both a source of wealth and important new agricultural land that might absorb some of Ireland's fast-growing population," Dr Arnold Horner, of the geography department of UCD, writes in a foreword to the report.
A turf-burning power station is due to close next year. The Iveragh Co-op, which has run the turf-cutting operation supplying 25,000 tonnes of turf a year to the station, is entering into new ventures."There are better uses for turf than burning it. Far from shedding jobs we will be expanding," Mr Dan Barry, chairman of the co-op, said.