Carol Nolan demands end to turf ban amid fuel crisis

Go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle. Taoiseach, despite the fact that we are in the middle of a crippling fuel crisis where energy prices remain the highest in the EU, this government continues to enforce a ban on the commercial sale of tarff, our own natural affordable fuel, and as I said recently in my own constituency, there is no better time to reverse this ban. Rural communities in County Offaly and indeed across the Midlands have relied on tarff for generations. It is not just a fuel, it is part of our culture and part of our heritage and for many families it is the only realistic way to stay warm this winter. The current policy is absurd and self-defeating. We are importing thousands of tons of peat and briquettes into this country every year while at the same time banning Irish people from buying tarff. Former Minister Charlie McConnell previously outlined that 32,000 tons of peat were imported into this country in 2022 and staggeringly over 30,000 tons of this came from Northern Ireland. So we can ship in peat from the Baltic states and from counties around Belfast but you cannot buy it from a shop in Bannacher or indeed sell it. Instead we criminalise the sale of our own domestic resource. This is economic madness. The contradiction does not stop there. The recently enacted environmental miscellaneous provisions bill 2025 and in particular the changes to section 99 have made the situation even worse. As I understand it, by expanding regulation to cover past and potential activity, small-scale peat producers operating under 30 hectares are now being reclassified as part of the larger historic bog areas. As a direct result, most of the remaining domestic suppliers will be pushed over the planning and licensing thresholds and forced to close. This is catastrophic for Irish horticulture. The horticultural sector depends on these producers, small producers for peat, and without them domestic supply will collapse. Growers will be forced to rely on imported peat that is of an inferior quality and it will cost approximately double the price because of transport and supply constraints. That threatens jobs, raises food prices and undermines the viability of Irish food production. Taoiseach, enough is enough. Will you immediately suspend the ban on commercial sale advertising and retail of tarff so that rural households can access affordable fuel this winter? Will you work with me and the small peat producers to introduce a practical, fair and legally robust framework for sub-30 hectare operations, including the reintroduction of targeted exemptions so that we can maintain a sustainable domestic peat supply that protects the border environment and the future of Irish horticulture and food production? Go raibh maith agat. I appreciate your concern on the issue and I thank you for raising it. As you know, there's been a long-standing policy in terms of peat extraction because of the impacts it has in terms of both biodiversity and climate perspective and in the last iteration of this policy, in the last government, my understanding was that small and domestic users of tarff would not in any way be impacted and it's still my view that they're not impacted. So I think you're talking about smaller commercial extractors, what you would describe as smaller, which would be 30 hectares. That's not quite small, but I mean the trajectory of travel has been trying to wean ourselves off commercial extraction of peat. And as I said earlier, Bòrd na Móine I think have transformed its operations very effectively and I believe we're on the cusp hopefully of something significant in Offaly and in Leith and in the Midlands in particular around a new form of energy, new types of initiatives, new types of investments that can create jobs in the area. Just as we set up Bòrd na Móine decades ago when the state needed employment in the Midlands, it's our objective that we now reposition Bòrd na Móine and turn its land and its assets into opportunity for economic development. And I've been at a number of investments around the energy field in the area, Shannon Bridge was at the last occasion, quite exciting, quite interesting. But I know the just transition is there then to try and help people who are impacted by the change and I acknowledge that, but I would have to engage with the Ministers concerned in the light of the points that you've raised and I'll try and get a more updated position for you in terms of the detail of the situation. Deputy Nolan. Good Taoiseach, I thank you for your response but I feel that a more practical common sense approach is now needed. I feel the real impact of this ban on the commercial sales of tarff is people being cold in their homes, older people have their ranges and they depend on fossil fuels like tarff. And also Taoiseach, I mean when you look at the emissions we're talking about imports coming in from Baltic states here which is causing environmental issues and we're talking about a small number of people who want to extract peat and we're talking about indeed our horticultural sector and in awfully we've lost too much already. We bore the brunt of the unjust transition I would call it. We really bore the brunt of that. We cannot afford to lose one more job, let it be the horticultural sector or any other sector. So I'm asking you Taoiseach to please adopt a common sense practical and logical approach because the real impact is not addressing this issue. I feel that we have to allow peat extraction. We have to allow it and we have to be fair with people also in terms of this issue. Go raibh maith agat. Thank you Deputy. Look as I say our objective was never to impact on domestic or indeed smaller operations in terms of peat extraction. And as I say the funding for just transition was designed to try and support people who had lost out with the closure of power stations and so on like that, of an older ewe and peat fired and so on. So I will as I say engage with the Minister and perhaps I'll ask him to meet with you and to see where we can take the issue from that perspective. Notwithstanding all of the various policy directions that people have moved in, you're saying practicality or pragmatism is an order here. I will engage with the Minister and ask him if he could engage with you. Thank you Taoiseach.