Blanket bog could save small turf cutters says td

IF Bord na Mona are to cease making peat briquettes and allied products in their 200,000 acres of blanket bog in the Midlands, it could throw a lifeline to hard-pressed farmers cutting turf for domestic purposes on their own plots of bog, according to Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice.
He told The Tuam Herald that the Government could take all private lands and bogs out of designation and use some of the Bord na Mona bog instead.
“By having a revision of the designation of the Habitats Directive to a small part of the 200,000 acres, we could free up all the bogs designated under this directive,” says Deputy Fitzmaurice.
Bord na Mona are to cease the production of peat for commercial purposes within the next 15 years