Outrage at threat of €5,000 fine – for selling a bag of turf to your neighbour

Anyone who sells a bag of turf to their neighbour from September onwards faces fines of up to €5,000 – equivalent to that of a drug dealer.

Former Gaeltacht Minister Éamon Ó Cuív said the plan by Environment Minister Eamon Ryan to ban the sale of turf will result in people freezing in their homes.

The Galway West TD warned Government to ‘get real’ on the effects of this proposed ban, which he said will hit the poorest hardest.

Deputy Ó Cuív has written to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, urging him and the Government to rein in Minister Ryan.

“This high-handed action of the Minister will have a huge effect on the midland counties and the west. Something needs to be done. Many of the counties with high percentages of dependence on solid fuel also have a high percentage of local authority houses with turf as the main source of heating with tenants due to age who don’t own or cut their own bogs. People will literally freeze if this is implemented.

“They are making a neighbour who sells a load of turf to an old person the equivalent of a drug dealer with fines of up to €5,000. We will have to get real on this,” Deputy Ó Cuív said.

Poor people and elderly will be disproportionately impacted by the ban on the sale of turf from September 1.

People living in the West and Midlands, as well as Gaeltacht counties such as Kerry and Donegal also have a higher proportion (between 18% and 25%) of households who depend on coal or peat as their primary source of heat. That compares with 5% of the general population.

Deputy Ó Cuív said there was a shortage of peat briquettes, too, and the war on Ukraine has pushed prices of energy soaring, meaning many people could be without adequately heated homes this Winter.

Read the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie