Turf lobby to evoke spirit of the 1916 Rising

Declan Tierney

News

Owners of designated bogs in County Galway have vowed to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising – by cutting turf!

Campaigners are adamant they will continue to cut turf on Galway’s designated bogs this summer and they have vowed to make it an election issue.

“The general election is coming, and we’ll have a number of questions for each of the candidates. Do the candidates support people’s right to continue to cut turf on our bogs?” asked Dermot Moran, a spokesperson for the Barroughter and Clonmoylan Bog Action Group.

Mr Moran said the group of around 900 people remain steadfast in their determination to continue to cut turf on bogs designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) by Europe.

It is illegal to cut turf on the designated bogs but that has not deterred campaigners.

“If anything, our resolve is stronger and continues to grow. We have support from people in Tipperary and Clare as well as Offaly, Kerry, Westmeath and Kildare. We are going to continue to do what we have always done and what generations of our families have done – and that’s cut turf,” he insisted.

He said that the 100th anniversary of 1916 was symbolic, and would be used by the group to ‘hammer home’ the belief that they should be allowed to cut turf.

“Any attempt by a Government, no matter what mixture of parties, to get us off our bogs and to stop us from cutting turf, will be reminded of 1916 and all that that represents. Passions run high. I suppose it’s about land and so passions do run high. It’s about our heritage and culture too.

“We had 800 years of British rule, people died. There will be no wavering on this. We will continue to cut turf. This is about allowing families to cut turf for personal use to heat their homes. This is not commercial cutting,” he said.

Mr Moran said that there is about 1,400 acres of bog land in Clonmoylan and 350 acres in Barroughter.

There had been ‘hassle’ and stand-offs between turf cutters and campaigners and members of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Gardaí on the bogs in recent years.

A number of cases regarding turf cutting and obstructing Gardaí have been brought through the courts and some cases are pending.

This hasn’t deterred the group. “Depending on the weather, and how dry it is, we’ll be back on the bogs in April until August this year, cutting turf,” added Mr Moran.