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Arts Minister defends stance on illegal turf cutting in Galway
Galway bay fm newsroom -The Arts Minister says the State doesn’t want to seize land from illegal turf-cutters.
Under the EU habitats directive, a turf cutting ban was introduced on 53 raised bogs in Ireland, 13 of which are in Galway.
In August, up to 150 people gathered to cut turf on South East Galway bogs in defiance of the ban on the harvesting of peat there.
Jimmy Deenihan says there’s no intention to take bog land from the turf-cutters who own them.
However, he says the Irish government can’t allow the owners of bog land to cut turf in breach of EU rules