Protected bogs in North Galway becoming no-go areas for Gardai and Wardens

By TONY GALVIN SOME bogs in the North Galway area are now no-go areas for Wildlife Rangers and Gardai as groups organise themselves to protect contractors illegally cutting turf on protected bogs, it has been claimed. There are also growing concerns that any attempts to penalises turf cutters involved in such activity by taking away part or all of their farm payments could escalate the issue into a serious civil disorder situation. The controversial 'no-go areas' claim was made by long-standing campaigner on the turf cutting issue, Moylough-based Cllr Michael Connolly (FF), who has told The Herald that Air Corps flights over designated and protected bogs are only exacerbating the situation, which he believes will descend into civil unrest unless the Government and the EU come to their sense, on this issue. Stand-offs Cllr Connolly says there is organised bog cutting taking place in North Galway and there have already been stand-offs between Gardaí and turf cutters, which he fears will escalate as passions rise. He is resultant to specify the exact locations but stands over his claims and has offered to introduce The Herald to those involved. Gardai are understood to be anxious to avoid direct confrontation with protestors at this stage and while escorting Wildlife Rangers on their inspection tours, they are are not directly intervening to halt prohibited turf harvesting. 'There is a simmering war going on that is not making the headlines. Designated bogs are being cut in the North Galway area and the contractors are being protected by a ring of steel. Local people are refusing to let Wildlife Rangers or Gardai near and in several instances they have had to turn away to avoid direct confrontation,' he said. Risk to Farm Payment One well-informed source told The Herald that there was anecdotal evidence that Department of Agriculture officials are putting it about that any person found cutting turf on a protected area could be putting their Single Farm Payment at risk. 'To those receiving this payment such a threat would be akin to the cutting off of their income and in these times, that's enough to dampen the enthusiasm of some but is bound to inflame others,' he told The Herald. A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture told The Herald that he was not aware of any such official policy. A request for clarification had not been replied to at the time of going to press. A number of reports of low-flying planes in the Mountbellew and Glenamaddy areas in recent weeks have reached The Herald but the exact status of such flights is difficult to confirm because of the security sensitivity of Air Corps flights. To add to the confusion and rumours, a commercial operator taking aerial photographs of houses and farms has been active in the North Galway area recently. These photographs are then offered for sale to property owners. Cllr Connolly said that the turf issue had gained most publicity because it is an emotive issue in rural Ireland but anyone who doubted that those found cutting turf in banned areas could face penalties should look up the regulations governing the Single Farm Payment scheme. 'If the Government goes down this road there will be serious civil unrest. There are already several bogs in the North Galway are that are now no-go areas for the authorities and I can only see the situation getting worse,' he told The Herald. GAAW concern The Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW) has expressed its concern about what they term 'the militarisation of the turf dispute' by the Government in North East Galway. GAAW spokesperson Niall Farrell stated: 'Our peace group never thought we would see the day that the Irish Defence Forces would be employed against our own people to enforce European law. But that is what is happening in North East Galway at the present time. As turf cutters attend to their traditional rights of working their bogs, the Irish Air Corps is flying overhead, spying on them on behalf of Brussels. We wonder is this the shape of things to come? 'On the ground, members of the National Parks & Wildlife Services are patrolling the bogs in their 4 X 4 jeeps, chaperoned by two Garda cars. It is a crazy situation. On the one hand, rural Garda stations are being closed and, on the other, people in rural Ireland are being criminalised because they refuse to tug the forelock to bureaucrats in Brussels. 'GAAW is at one with the Garda Representative Association: we are deeply concerned about the trend towards investing in the Defence Forces while freezing Garda recruitment and closing rural stations.'