The Government’s decision not to impose a nationwide ban on smoky coal has been described as a “victory for common sense” by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).

Tim Farrell, the association’s rural development chairperson, said that the decision would be a relief to households in rural parts of the country.

“For the ban to go ahead, it would have to include both turf and timber, so this decision will be a big relief for households right across rural Ireland who depend hugely on these locally sourced fuels,” Farrell argued.

The ban, already in place for a number of towns and cities, was extended to 13 further towns, it was announced yesterday, Tuesday, December 17.

However, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment Richard Bruton, while making the announcement, said that a nationwide ban was off the table.

“The idea that people in rural Ireland should be prevented from heating their homes with logs or turf was a ludicrous one,” Farrell claimed.

The ICSA has constantly highlighted the insanity of these proposals, and should they have been passed, would no doubt have caused a mutiny.

“It is absurd that ordinary decent people could be criminalised for burning logs from a fallen down tree or thinnings from forestry plantations,” Farrell concluded.