This morning.

Dublin Castle, Dublin 2

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan arrives for cabinet.

Meanwhile…

…via Irish Examiner:

Eamon Ryan’s watering down of a proposed ban on the sale of turf still does not go far enough according to a Fianna Fáil TD.

The Green Party leader has now suggested that small rural communities of under 500 people will be exempt from a ban on the sale of turf, which is due to come into force in September.

…He is now due to meet a number of Fianna Fáil members today, including Barry Cowen, in a bid to ease tensions and hammer out an agreement.

Mr Cowen said the proposal to allow villages and areas with a population of less than 500 continue to burn turn sods is “senseless” as it won’t cater for relationships that exist between the commercial cutter and those families that need a supply that do not have their own resource.

I could point to 10 or 11 villages and towns in Offaly, for example, that have a population of over 500 where there are pockets of them dependent on turf for their heating, for their water, for their cooking even, so they are a vulnerable cohort that just can’t be cut adrift.”

Barry Cowen among dissenting TDs challenging minister Eamon Ryan over proposed turf ban (Irish Examiner)

Sam Boal/RollingNews

Meanwhile…

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16 thoughts on “Cut Adrift

    1. Cú Chulainn

      Two rules for life: Never underestimate the bigotry of an Irish unionist and never underestimate the stupidity of an Irish Green Party leader.

      1. Kin

        History repeats its self
        Ryan is going the same way of john gormley
        The greens expect us to stop agriculture and live in the dark
        We need energy to live we need food to eat
        Frankly we can live without data centres
        Fact is we are 5 million people A tiny population on a large land mass to support the population
        We have a fantastic agriculture product and the richest fishing grounds in Europe
        We are only allowed 5% of what is there by the EU
        We could be 100% self sufficient in food if we planned our agriculture industry properly
        And develop our fishing industry

          1. Kin

            That’s our quota
            It’s unbelievable but true
            But fish in our waters like sea bass and tuna for 2 we are not allowed to catch
            That goes to our partners of the EU
            OUR PARTNERS HAVE FISHED NEAR ON €400 billion of fish in our waters since we joined the EU

        1. ce

          No data centers = no Broadsheet/internet/comment section…

          … maybe you’re on to something…

          1. Kin

            No retention of our data
            Since the internet was born we never had a tenth of the data centres we have now
            And data centres sell our data for a profit

        2. Shawnee Poole

          Like with John Gormley and his efforts to stop the building of the Covanta Power Station in Poolbeg.
          As the Minister for the environment, heritage and local government he opposed the plant and he could refuse a foreshore licence to stop the cooling water inlet and outlet being built.
          Dublin City Council then bought the land and as they didn’t need the foreshore licence the construction went head in 2014 having been first announced in 1997.

        3. Skeptik

          You can have data centres too, just admit that we need to import LNG for a couple of years until we get sufficient renewables in place.

          In relation to Agriculture, we’re a nation of beef ranchers, producing sweet FA in terms of arable crops. Most of the few crops we do produce is for animal feed (see point #1)

  1. Andy

    I just don’t understand why the government want to end local turf burning without having a solution FIRST! It always seems to be ‘lets get rid of something, and then we will think of a solution’ instead of the other way round. An increase in fuel allowances and long term retro fit promises just dont cut the mustard

    1. Skeptik

      I think you’ll find the carbon footprint is already lower. Smaller, better insulated housing stock for the most part, services are either directly piped (gas/electricity) and less distance to commute and avail of local services, public transport availability.
      The CO2 per head for rural dwellers is significantly higher they are an obvious choice when it comes to reducing overall CO2 emissions. Certainly not a vote winner though!

  2. ce

    Leo file goes to DPP…
    Housing and Health total cluster-fupps… including dodgy appointments of an order of magnitude so much greater than Zappone, record house prices/renting and 50,000-200,000 refugees also needing housing …

    … good time to be talking about turf, the most useless fuel in the world on which only a minuscule amount of people in the country seem to actually rely on…

    I wonder how much tax is collected from the selling turf to neighbours…

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