Scale of illegal peat extraction surpasses Offaly County Council's resources

OFFALY County Council has called for a national response to illegal peat extraction identified in a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

In a statement, issued in response to the recent report from the EPA which found that illegal large scale peat extraction is taking place at nine sites in Offaly, the council said "the scale and complexity of the illegal activities outlined in the EPA’s report often surpass the operational and legal capacities of individual local authorities."

"Large-scale peat extraction cases typically involve multiple landowners, overlapping legal jurisdictions, technical environmental assessments, and protracted legal proceedings — all of which demand specialist expertise, significant financial resources, and risk management capabilities that are beyond what many local authorities can sustain independently," added the council statement.

It continues: "The Council is of the view that a coordinated national response to investigate, manage, and, where necessary, prosecute these complex cases would be the most appropriate action. Such an approach would ensure consistency in enforcement, reduce duplication of effort, and enable better use of technical and legal resources.

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"The Council remains committed to environmental protection within County Offaly and to fulfilling its statutory responsibilities in a manner that is legally sound and properly resourced. The Council is willing to collaborate with the EPA and other local authorities to work towards resolving this issue in a coordinated and effective manner."

In its report, issued in late June, the EPA said illegal large scale peat extraction is widespread throughout the country.

“The sector does not operate within planning or environmental laws,” the report outlined.

It said it is investigating 38 “large scale operations” over seven counties where illegal peat extraction is taking place and wants Offaly County Council and six other local authorities to “take appropriate enforcement action against operators”.

The other counties identified are Westmeath (eight sites), Roscommon and Tipperary (six sites each), Kildare and Longford (four sites each) and Sligo (one site).

The EPA says large scale peat extraction can only take place if it is granted planning permission and in some cases, an EPA licence is also required.

A planning permission and/or EPA licence will set out conditions which control how the operation takes place. It also controls how the peatlands are rehabilitated and remediated afterwards. This ensures the extraction can take place in an environmentally safe manner, said the agency.

Anyone extracting peat in the course of business in an area exceeding 50 hectares requires an IPC (Integrated Pollution Control) licence from the EPA.

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Planning permission is required for anyone extracting peat in an area of more than 30 hectares or in an area less than this where it is likely to have a significant effect on the environment.

According to the EPA the main uses of the peat are horticulture, mushroom growing and animal bedding.

The agency says 313,382 tonnes of peat was exported from Ireland in 2024. That is down from 351,638 in 2023.

The biggest year for peat exports between 2019 and 2024 was 2020 when 919,371 tonnes was sent abroad.

The EPA notes that until 2020 Bord na Móna “lawfully operated” nine different peatland complexes across 11 counties.

All of those bogs were operated in accordance with IPC licences issued by the EPA.

“The extraction of peat at these peatlands has now ceased and large scale remediation programmes are underway in accordance with EPA licence requirements,” said the EPA report.

Reacting to the report, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC) said there had been a “system-wide failure” by local authorities in regulating large-scale commercial peat extraction.

The IPCC said there are “direct implications of peat extraction on all of our lives” and referred to an EPA report last year which stated that one in 20 water supplies failed to meet the THM standard in 2023 (THMs are a by product of using chemicals to remove organic matter such as peat from freshwater).

It said the EPA's report into the 38 peat extraction sites echoes what the IPCC have been campaigning against for decades, that these unlawful activities are inflicting “catastrophic damage” on Ireland's boglands: the vital ecosystems that support biodiversity, cultural heritage, scientific research and perform crucial eco-system-services such as filtering water and sequestering carbon, storing it for millennia which is key in our efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The IPCC said that despite “mounting evidence and EPA prosecutions of some operators, most local authorities have failed to enforce environmental laws”.

It also accused the peat extraction industry of not attempting to self regulate.

“The IPCC need to see external regulation on this industry that is using loopholes to profit from the destruction of Irish habitats not found anywhere else on the globe. Everyone else has to adhere to planning and environmental law so why is it peat extraction can continue without any issues? IPCC need to see these industrial peat extraction sites rehabilitated and restored to give the biodiversity that was destroyed the chance and space to recover,” a statement said.

The Irish Peatland Conservation Council is a charity whose mission is to conserve a representative sample of Irish peatlands for people to enjoy today and in the future. It is based at the Bog of Allen Nature Centre, Co Kildare.