Now here at home today the row over proposed restrictions around the sale of
turf dominated business in the doll with shin fein calling the proposal half
baked this evening that they all debated a shin fan motion calling for a halt the
ban as it says now is not the right time we can now take a look at some of those
heated exchanges smoky coal is the target here not turf
and i think there's a response there's a responsibility there is a responsibility
on all sides it holds including deputy mcdonald
to get off the fence now in terms of what's necessary in terms of the health
of people as well we need clarity now don't talk and riddles these
just tell us that this mad cap half-baked unfair notion advanced by
eamon ryan is now officially
ditched so they created this myth that the ownership said to like take wine off
the the people in france uh the turf and kind of a nice wart catchphrase i
thought the aromatic flavor of wine was a more berry like and
whiskey was more peat you know we'll be laughing when it will be kevin
i think you need to relax a bit when you knew
to come to you first minister hackett um the green party has an awful lot of
explaining to do around the issue they've had to do an awful lot of
explaining we saw ayman ryan in front of tds today where we heard about robust
and heated exchanges on the matter would you agree that it's been mishandled
um look i think what's clear to see is that it's a very emotive issue um it's a
very sensitive issue um but at the heart of this it's about public health it's
about people's lives and their well-being and that's where this has
come from we've had successive governments and
successive environment ministers unable to bring this legislation through
because of some of these sensitive issues that are being raised but
ultimately every year in this country you know 1,300 people die a year from
from poor air quality and this is really what the focus should be on about
people's health but if you knew it was as sensitive as it clearly is maybe some
of the issues around individual use cutting your own uh turf on your own
land exchange of turf with neighbors that should have all been clarified and
said from the get-go you know that's okay well i suppose we're in a process
of consultation there was a public consultation on on this regulations this
time last year there's a second consultation now on the drafted
regulations and again it's important to say that they're in draft form so this
consultation is ongoing um you know not only with the public up until the third
of may so anyone listening to tonight can feed into that you know we've been
engaging and we've engaged with irish rural lincoln indeed minister ryan has
engaged with the with the government backbenchers today they're saying no
surprise really to any of this well i'm saying it shouldn't have been a surprise
because there certainly was uh consultation last year and this has been
a long long time in the making well the public were consulted last year for an
extensive phase to to design the regulations now we're having a
consultation on the regulations as as they are proposed and they would be
those communities that would be individually affected by this
it was open to anyone to to engage with the consultation but i think the
important thing is that we we focus on on the health piece they are still draft
um the regulations and within that there is a lot of scope for people to to cut
on their own bogs to to you know to sell and gift to to local in local
communities and ultimately we're focused here on the the air quality in urban
settings okay air quality in urban settings is the focus michael healy-rae
and essentially this is an air quality issue a public health issue yes first of
all to take apart your argument minister you do realize that advocacy groups and
voluntary groups working for older people and that are interested in
protecting all the people have come out and said that this proposal is
completely wrong because it will put older people disabled people vulnerable
people people and poorer incomes in danger because it will remove their
source of heat and the heat is the comfort that people need in their homes
that's the first point the second point two times in your presentation you use
the word draft because the greens are doing a complete
you're doing so many u-turns you don't know whether you're in a tail spin or
you don't know your heads from your railbows at this stage because you've
said there are a number of times that well this was a draft it's a
consultation that is not no no no that is not what minister ryan said he came
out he's accepted he's accepted that the the language that the
question was was inaccurate and that he has accepted that i think that's fine i
didn't think i'm just going to make the point what he said very clearly we will
impose a ban now he forgot to consult with the other two people he's he's like
he might think he'll ruin this contributor actually not he make up a
part of the government but like if he saw after heroin departments and if he
minded your own business and if he didn't come along with half baked ids
you have more done more damage for environmental issues because of making a
mess of situations like this and that is why i want to ask pippa hackett about
that so you're saying that you're you're alleging that there was no consultation
and the other coalition leaders didn't know about that is that is that the case
well no there has been consultation for a number of years now and as i said this
has been an issue that we have traveled from success absolutely
and and there are excuse me there are other groups who are advocating because
of the air quality irish heart foundation for example are advocating
strongly about these issues now i do want to make the point and you you do
raise a valid point and i accept the point about people absolutely being you
know challenged by this issue and we're absolutely cognizant of that in
government that people will be be facing difficulty so that's why the proposals
that as they stand at the moment are are allowing for you know turbo rights are
unaffected that's very important and people can in in you know at the moment
in in rural areas and in small villages will be unaffected by this all right so
the vast proportion of people will be unaffected again it's focused on the
urban setting and the you know the difficulty i mean you look at even towns
in your own constituency um you know you you've a town like trilli you know for
30 odd days of the year has air quality that's below the the um the world health
organization you know so people are going out into their towns and they're
inhaling pollution they'll be cold if you'll have your ware
caramel lily i mean you're in a midland community you'll be very familiar with
the tradition of um of of turf cutting what what do you make of this and this
argument that it is about public health and it's something that has to be done
because smokey coal is is being banned and that bound was introduced in 1990
but then you have all this other legislation environment ministers um not
doing anything about it in the past and it's all come to bear now i think
what i hear speaking to people over the last couple of weeks clear is very
straightforward the health argument there is none they're clear it's not
good it's not good it's tough it's not good burning of tarp is not good but the
problem is in in rural ireland particularly in the midlands in
countries like african nation longford was made they thought this argument was
was being dealt with three years ago we had a court case we were before the
courts we were told you couldn't do this the larger components the big players
were being told at that stage the end is nigh but then the last couple of weeks
all of a sudden the smaller people are being told but there's there's still
commercial turf cutting take taking they've been told they will need
planning permission for anything more than 30 hectare on over 30 hectares they
were told that three years ago and there's a process at play there but
what's happened in the last couple weeks is the smaller person it is as muggy
lady referred to the older person the perhaps the widow or the widower who are
relying on a friend not even a relation or a cousin or their grant this might be
their granny a cousin who will provide them with a bag of turf over the years
but won't they still be allowed but won't they still be allowed that's what
amy and ryan is saying that would be okay that won't be a
problem i'll give you an example my uncle lived
in in a place called killish in county lafayette and he cut turf and he sold it
and it's about eight kilometers from lung
for town uh kilishi has less than 400 people living at longer time is 10 000.
surprise surprise he used to he used to sell or give a bag of turf to a few
people in love with town i asked a question tonight can you do that next
year could you do that next year under the under what we've heard in the last
couple of days can he well longford if it is a town of ten thousand people will
be subject to the smoky coal ban as that size of a town and will have been for a
number of years now so any town over ten thousand people is already subject to
the smoky coal ban so tulamore um you know uh killarney trilli those sorts of
towns already have that in place so that
that's gonna be in a way well yes that is a no for that difficulty is it's very
well referred to tradition and and and dna this is a particular person who
lives in long forgotten lady of a certain age who has got this turf all
her life from this source at this price now whether you like it or not if you
take that away you are talking fuel poverty in her situation she cannot
heast the home without that and we haven't we haven't thought about her
we've thought about the big people over the last three years but we haven't
thought about her