The two largest parties in the government coalition, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are being called on to “stand up” to Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan’s move to ban online sales of turf.
In a Dáil debate yesterday (Thursday, July 7), Minister Ryan said that the ban on the selling of turf – what he referred to as “commercial operations” – will also apply to transactions over the internet.
He reiterated that “traditional arrangements” will not be restricted, giving the example of a local sale where someone who has turbary rights is selling to a neighbour.
However, his comment in relation to online sales has generated somewhat of a backlash.
Speaking today, independent TD Carol Nolan said: “It is high time for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs to put their money where there mouth is and demand that Minister Ryan reverse his plans to prohibit the online sale of turf.
“The approach of the Greens to the sale of turf and the use of turf has always been…rooted in an abysmal failure to comprehend, appreciate or recognise the traditional value of turf cutting and the more recent need for its use during a cost-of-living crisis,” Nolan remarked.
The Laois-Offaly TD called for deputies from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to “get off the fence”.
“It is now way past the point [for them] to stop equivocating and their half-hearted defence of turf cutting and turf use.”
She went on to claim that Minister Ryan “commands no meaningful support”.
“People in Offaly and Laois are consistently telling me they have lost all faith in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to actually do something meaningful on this issue. They see, as we all see, that ultimately they will give [Minister Ryan] the green light to continue his attack on turf,” Nolan claimed.
She also asserted that Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue recently failed to provide her with “robust assurances around the protection of turbary rights”.
Nolan concluded: “I am emphatically telling Minister Ryan and his cheerleaders in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to back off from rural Ireland and to back off from the banning of the sale of turf in any way, shape or form.”