Offaly Councillors disagree on approach to peat ban

There was some disagreement between the Councillors during a recent County Council meeting about how to react to the government's proposal to ban the commercial sale of peat from the autumn onwards.

There will be a meeting between the County Councillors and the Chief Executive of Bord na Móna Tom Donnellan on Wednesday April 27 and they will have much to discuss.

Cllr Noel Cribbin told the recent Council meeting that the Just Transition process is too slow. “It shouldn't take a year to get through the 80 project submissions,” he commented.

“The transition from solid fuel to a greener way of life is not proving just for many people in Offaly”, commented Cllr Ken Smollen. “The Retrofitting programme is beyond the budget of many. It could cost €70,000 or more to retrofit your home. A lot of people simply can't afford that.

“Countless numbers of people are worried about the price of keeping warm during our long winters. Banning peat cutting would be a wrong move because a lot of people are reliant on turf. We must do all we can to stop the tide. We must do all we can to keep turf cutting going.”

Andrew Murray, Senior Planner with Offaly County Council, told Cllr Cribbin that the 80 proposed business projects have to be approved by the EU, therefore it will be a lengthy process.

“We need to submit questions in advance to Tom Donnellan before the April 27 meeting”, remarked Cllr John Clendennen, “so we don't get just PR and spin during the meeting.

“A lot of people in Offaly are disillusioned with Bord na Móna, because Just Transition doesn't seem very just and not enough jobs are being created.

“Money is being provided but where are the jobs being created, where will they be created? It's all about replacing lost jobs and we are not seeing it happening.”

Cllr Eamon Dooley said Bord na Móna will “talk all day about the positive things happening, in the process steering away from the more difficult topics”. He said it looks like the turf cutting fight, the fight to keep the commercial sale of peat-harvesting going, has been lost and the councillors should focus their attention on struggles that they have a better chance of winning. Cllr John Leahy agreed. Cllr Leahy said they should focus on the struggle to create more jobs in the region. “Besides, the future of the commercial sale of peat seems to be out of our hands. It's a decision being taken at a national level and it's not really under our remit.”

Cllr Smollen disagreed. “We have to focus on this and fight against it. I know people who say they are going to cut turf no matter what the law is. We also have to fight for those people suffering from fuel poverty. The problem of fuel poverty is going to get considerably worse. We can't turn a blind eye to it. We are represented to elected the people.”

“We are all aware of this,” said Cllr Declan Harvey. “We are all trying to deal with it.”

“So many people being cold in their own homes is not an acceptable situation,” said Cllr Smollen. “We can't ignore it.”

“No one is ignoring anything,” remarked Cllr Harvey.

“Two years ago there was turf coming out of every shed,” commented Cllr Cribbin. “Now there's no turf. The court said 230 acres of Bord na Móna land would be set aside for those with turbary rights. We should put that point to Tom Donnellan on Wednesday. I think it is terrible that we are talking about fuel poverty in Offaly in the year 2022.”

Cllr Dooley said Bord na Móna has offered the people of Offaly nowhere near enough.