Madam, – Your story on the widespread turf-cutting that has taken place this year on protected raised bogs in spite of the Cabinet decision of May 2010 (“Illegal turf cutting may result in large fines for Ireland, says Commission”, June 9) refers to the Peatland Council’s brokered “agreement reached by turf cutters and environmental organisations”.
For the record, that agreement is not supported by this organisation, whose report on 33 spot visits to “protected” raised bogs last month led to the emergency meeting of the Peatlands Council.
The extent of the damage revealed by our report shocked not only the European Commission, but also our own members who undertook the survey. More than 700 photographs in our report document savage mechanical destruction, including on Cloonchambers, the bog cut by TD Luke “Ming” Flanagan on one of 31 bogs where cutting was supposed to have ceased. In all 33 visits, we did not see a single instance of hand-cutting of turf.
The Peatlands Council agreement is based on flawed science – that “liners” could be employed to hydrologically isolate parts of the protected bogs to allow cutting to continue – and a reading of the Habitats Directive that flatly contradicts settled case law in suggesting that social, economic or cultural considerations could justify changes in the boundaries of designated EU protected areas to allow cutting to continue at certain sites.
The sole result of the “agreement” was to grant immunity to turf-cutters for illegal activities in 2011. Those who have obeyed the Cabinet decision must be wondering why they did so.
The Peatland Council must accept expert legal and scientific advice or the only purpose it will serve will be to encourage false hopes. This appears to be the strategy of its chairman Conor Skehan – preparing the ground for the European Commission to be the fall guy in inevitably turning down these proposals.
This can only serve to turn people further against “the EU”. Is that what this Government wants? – Yours, etc,