Air Pollution (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28
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Seán Kyne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel

The Minister of State is welcome, and I acknowledge the sentiment of this amendment. This relates to regulations a number of years ago on air pollution, smoky coal and the impact that was going to have on the sale of turf. There was a lot of hoo-ha at the time and a lot of valid and genuine concerns, but also a lot of misinformation. The Government, we and Fianna Fáil backbenchers had robust meetings at the time with then Minister, Eamon Ryan, about these issues. It became quite clear that this was not in any way an attempt to stop people burning turf or wood. The issue related to smoky coal and the practicalities of that, and how smoky coal could not be sold under the regulations in certain communities. The only way that could be done was for turf and other products not to be sold on forecourts, online or things like that. Those were the practical issues relating to this Bill. This came up at public meetings, including one where an elderly man asked if we were trying to stop him from burning turf. I told him absolutely not. He could buy turf from his neighbour. He could steal turf and burn it. That is not the issue here. There is a broader issue and Senator Boyhan is correct.
I also came across homeowners and people who were out of power for 17 days with air-to-water systems and all of that. There are broader issues here. Under the regulations and plans, anyone who has turf and can buy it legally is entitled to burn it and there is no prohibition on that. That needs to be said and acknowledged.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-28