Turf debate is emotive – but something has to be done

World of Politics with Harry McGee

One of my most enjoyable days as a journalist was spent in the bogs above Indreabhán cutting turf with two Irish speakers from Cois Fharraige. It’s a long time ago now, over 30 years in the past. The piece I wrote is still there in some dusty archive. I can not remember all the details, just snippets of the day.

And it was a glorious summer’s day, of intense heat. Far below us Galway Bay shimmered in the sunshine and the three Aran Islands presented themselves like hazy pebbles sitting on the horizon.

My two companions were older men, much older than I was then, probably younger than I am now. This was very much the last exponents of a tradition of ‘ag baint móna’, cutting turf by hand.

It was special to witness people following a tradition that went back hundreds of years. For them it was just routine. They had a sleán (a slane) with which we cut from the ground the long sods that looked like they had been slicked with oil. And then we footed turf already cut and turned for a few hours.

At lunchtime, sandwiches were produced, a fire was kindled and a black kettle was produced to make the bog tea. Later that afternoon, we gently trundled downhill towards the beginning of the boreen, a passive donkey carrying the harvest in two wicker creels.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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