Turbary Rights
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

I raise an issue concerning Ardgraigue, Barroughter and Clonmoylan bogs in County Galway. People who signed up to the restoration scheme and received a payment were promised an alternative bog but have received nothing. The payment for them has stopped and they still have nowhere to cut turf during a fuel cost crisis.
A second issue is that the families who chose not to sign up to the scheme, but have been prevented from cutting turf because of a High Court injunction sought by the Department against a turf-cutting contractor in the area, have been cut off from a vital source of fuel. This is the critical time of year when turf must be harvested and dried before winter. If they miss this window they are facing into a winter without adequate heating in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. That is simply unacceptable when people are already struggling with soaring energy bills. These families were repeatedly told that habitat restoration schemes were voluntary, yet they now feel they are being forced into surrendering their rights through legal pressure and injunctions. They did not accept once-off payments because they wanted to retain the ability to continue cutting turf. Their rights have been denied.
These are families, many of them elderly, who rely on turf as their primary source of heating. The Government has used the resources and might of the State against vulnerable older people.
They have been coerced and bullied. They are people who are simply trying to heat their homes.
I hoped the Minister would be here and I am really disappointed he is not.
Serious concerns are being raised by these families regarding the designation process surrounding these bogs and whether the statutory instruments complied with the timelines set out in Article 4(4) of the habitats directive. The article clearly states that sites must be designated "within six years at most", yet the statutory instruments for these bogs were not signed until 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively, despite the sites being identified in 1997. The families believe there is a legitimate question as to whether the process complied with the required legal timelines. I believe the Government knows that but is simply putting the issue off because it does not think these people would have the resources or the time to take it to court.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service has failed these people. Families in the area who signed up and took the payment were misled and, in my opinion, conned. They were promised an alternative turf bank and they have received nothing. Families who did not sign up have been forcibly stopped from cutting turf. It is voluntary on the outside but mandatory by design.
There is a resolution. With the stroke of a pen, this matter could be resolved. The Minister could lift the injunction, allow these families to cut their turf through the activities requiring consent, ARC, process and show that the Government understands the reality facing ordinary people during a cost-of-living crisis. The fact that the Minister has basically ignored all correspondence in relation to this matter is worrying. I ask him to sign an ARC and ensure an alternative bog is provided, as promised, for the people who signed up for the scheme.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14