A TD has slammed the European Court of Justice as a “kangaroo court” after it emerged that the European Commission (EC) is bringing Ireland to court, accusing authorities here of failing to properly enforce EU regulations on peat extraction.
And another TD has said that the Government is “all too willing” to accept instruction for Europe in order to “be top of the class for doing everything they want.”
The case is being referred to the EU’s highest court – the Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
“The Commission considers that efforts by the Irish authorities have been insufficient and is therefore referring Ireland to the Court of Justice of the European Union,” the European Commission (EC) said in a statement.
The case could have major implications for peat operators, local authorities, and national environmental policies.
Michael Fitzmaurice, Independent Ireland TD for Roscommon Galway, said he hoped that Ireland would fight the case “tooth and nail.”
Meanwhile, Independent TD Mattie McGrath said it was deeply hypocritical that Ireland continues to import horticultural peat and solid fuel peat briquettes from countries like Latvia due to the 2019 High Court ruling that effectively put an end to large-scale commercial peat harvesting on Irish bogs.
Deputy McGrath said it was a clear example of “green hypocrisy,” saying that Irish farmers were under attack from a Government curtailing their ability to harvest peat and instead importing it from Latvia and other Baltic states.
It comes three years after the sale of peat as a form of fuel was banned over environmental concerns. The EC on Friday acknowledged that “significant action” had been taken by Ireland to reduce peat cutting by large operators, but claimed that the State was not enforcing rules at smaller sites of under 50 hectares.
This is despite the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment saying that peat extraction is “a regulated activity.”
Yet the EC is determined to ensure that EU law is applied in the same way across all of the bloc’s 27 member states. Peatlands, an important habitat for wildlife, are also vital for storing carbon, and for purifying drinking water and reducing the risk of flooding.
Deputy Fitzmaurice, a former turf contractor, has accused the commission of “taking away rural employment and rural ways of living,” whilst hitting out at the European Commission as a “kangaroo court.”
“Are we going to shut down an industry in this country?” asked Mr Fitzmaurice.
“I’m shocked at what I’m hearing. This isn’t about domestic turf cutting. This is about milling peat. I think it’s only right that I stand up for what’s accurate and what’s fair.”
Rural Independent TD for Tipperary, Deputy Mattie McGrath, told Gript that the importation of peat from countries like Latvia amounted to “madness.”
“Cutting turf is a tradition as old as time for people to heat their homes. Now, we’re being prosecuted for a natural activity. Yet, at the same time, we have massive coal mines being opened across Europe, as we speak – this is a bizarre situation.
“Our government will accept any instruction from Europe – look at how we have lost our fishing industry, how we have lost so much of our cattle and livestock – but here we are stopping people from maintaining their own bit of heat in their homes. It’s an act of national sabotage, as the Government seems to want to relentlessly penalise people in rural Ireland.
“We keep accepting these regulations from Europe and paying penalties all so we can be the good boys, so to speak, at the top of the class for doing everything they want,” said McGrath.
“The reality is that we have peat coming from Latvia to supply our power stations that used to use turf. That is clearly not the answer,” he added.
“Why on earth would we have imported peat from Latvia rather than using our own peat? The issue needs an urgent debate. What is happening is insane,” said the Rural TD.
Mr Fitzmaurice said that a report by the Environmental Protection Agency had promoted “total misinformation,” and that there were inaccuracies in the report. He has claimed that based on his analysis of statistics in the report, the true scale of the issue has been inflated.
He also said that since Bord na Móna started shutting down peat cutting activities in 2021, very low level activity remains, which should not fall into the case.
“It’s disappointing to see the wording that the Commission has used. They’ve been judge and jury in this so far. I hope Ireland fights this tooth and nail, and second of all, the national parks have 6,000 hectares of their own rewetted. Thirdly, Bord na Móna has a large area not rewetted – it’s not that bogs are disappearing.”
The TD, who sat on the Agricultural Committee, said that a period of transition would have to be taken into account over years to come, and that people in rural areas would still need fuel for their fires in rural parts of the country.
Mr Fitzmaurice said that the scenario facing peatlands shared similarities with the closure of quarries – which he said had largely been driven by expensive and rigorous enforcement of planning permissions and environmental regulations.
He also pointed to Latvia, one of the world’s biggest producers and exporters of sphagnum peat moss.
“Is this the Ireland that we want? That we’re going to be bringing peat from Latvia to Monaghan or wherever so we can grow mushrooms. Is it alright to do that as long as we close down our own?”
The Dáil previously heard that the Government was “suppressing the production of peat.”
According to a 2023 reply to a parliamentary question submitted by Aontú, 813 tonnes of peat had been imported from Lithuania in the first six months of that year, while 4,100 tonnes had been imported from the Netherlands.
“This is climate hypocrisy. If you are a small beef farmer in Mayo, you can get stuffed but a green light and thumbs up will be given to beef farmers in Brazil. This has to stop,” Peadar Tóibín said at the time.
Environmental campaigners, meanwhile, have welcomed the EC’s legal action.
A spokesperson for the Irish Peatland Conservation Council told BBC News NI that “brown deserts” had been created across the Irish midlands due to commercial peat extraction.
“They go into a bog, strip off the surface and then also drain the bog into the local rivers and lakes,” he said.
He said this has “long-reaching implications because the peat silts up the waterways but it also converts to ammonia as well which is destructive for aquatic life”.