The proposed ban on the sale of commercial turf is creating “a lot of worry” for older people, a Sinn Féin TD has warned as the party prepares to bring a motion on the issue before Dáil Éireann. 

“There’s been a lot of confusion and a lot of worry - particularly for older people in rural communities that rely on turf and have relied on it for generations,” Roscommon-Galway TD Claire Kerrane told Newstalk. 

“What’s at issue here doesn’t appear to be those who are cutting turf domestically for themselves but it is the sale of turf and that will cause huge difficulty in rural communities.

“We know of people who would buy turf by the bag because they can’t afford to buy it any other way or they buy it by the trailer coming into the winter period.” 

An Irish turf cutter, cutting sods of turf with a slean, the traditional way of turf cutting like it's been done for ages.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan says the move is necessary to improve air quality and that if the ban is delayed then Ireland would “have a problem, a serious problem, with air pollution".

However, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald told Newstalk that the ban was “the wrong move at this time” and said people should be free to heat their homes with turf if they want. 

“So there are three main asks to the motion [that] we will bring forward to debate in the Dáil on Tuesday evening,” Deputy Kerrane continued. 

“One is calling on the Government to scrap plans to ban the sale of turf from September. 

“We also want to see the cancellation of the carbon tax increase which is due to come into force next week and we also want to see excise being removed from home heating oil.” 

June 29, 2009: Piles Of Peat Turf In Connemara National Park; County Galway, Ireland (Credit Image: © Millan Knapik/Design Pics via ZUMA Wire)

Carbon tax

It is likely Sinn Féin will find a number of Government backbenchers sympathise with them on the issue of the carbon tax - even if they do not vote for the party’s motion on Tuesday. 

The tax is due to increase from €33.50 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted to €41.00 per tonne on 1st May. 

Earlier this month the Irish Independent reported that a group of Fine Gael TDs planned to put down a motion before their parliamentary party demanding that the tax rise should be deferred, while Deputy John McGuinness said he hoped to do the same in the Fianna Fáil party room.

Main image: Men cutting turf in a peat bog field in Ireland in April 2019. Picture by: Gabriel Cassan / Alamy Stock Photo.