No ban on burning turf but rules to limit harm planned

The Government has confirmed that a ban on the burning of turf will not be introduced.

However, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has said that regulations to reduce the harm from the burning of turf are being examined.

He was speaking during International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on Tuesday last when he announced the new standards for all domestic solid fuels that will be introduced across the State within a year.

The development come in the wake of a consultation process to seek the public’s views on the controls on peat for domestic home heating introduced by Minister Ryan in February last.

Although the Minister insisted at the time that it was not his intention to have an outright ban on turf burning, the move sparked fear among rural communities in the midlands, dependent on turf for fuel.

This week the Minister said poor air quality causes premature deaths and each year some 1,300 people die in Ireland due to air pollution from solid fuel burning.

“When this Government was formed, we gave a commitment to tackle air pollution caused by domestic solid fuel burning, and we remain committed to doing so,” the Minister said.

“We took a major step earlier this year, with a public consultation on the development of new solid fuels regulations for Ireland. We received more than 3,500 responses across all strands of the consultation, with a wide variety of suggested regulatory approaches for solid fuels.

“Having considered the submissions made by the public, health experts, advocacy groups, academia and industry, a framework for legislation has been developed and drafting of the regulations is underway.”

From 2022 the following new standards for solid fuels will apply in Ireland, including that coal, coal-based products, any manufactured solid fuel or peat briquettes will be required to have a smoke emission rate of less than 10g/hour, reducing to 5g/hr by 2025.

The sulphur content permitted for all fuels will be reduced from 2% to 1% over time.

Wood sold in single units under 2m³ will be required to have a moisture content of 25% or less (moving to 20% within 4 years) and wet wood sold over these volumes will be required to come with instructions for the purchaser on how to dry this wood.

These regulations will be finalised in the coming months and will be in place for the 2022 heating season.

They are being announced now to allow those servicing the domestic solid fuel market to plan accordingly and to continue to invest in less polluting alternatives.

Minister of State Pippa Hackett has welcomed news that Ireland’s clean air strategy is being implemented next year, with improved solid fuels replacing smoky coal and wet wood.

She said the ban won’t apply to those with rights to harvest sod turf.

“Tullamore became a low smoke zone in 2020 and people are adapting to the change,” says Minister Hackett.

“We have four air monitoring stations in Laois/Offaly – Birr, Portlaoise, Emo and Edenderry – which you can check at www.airquality.ie. Right now, they are rating reasonably well but once we start lighting fires, we’ll see how the air quality declines.

“Those who suffer from respiratory illness will be relieved by the switch to cleaner fuels.

“It will help to reduce hospital admissions for such illnesses, as well as improving the performance of solid fuels where they are required for domestic heating.” she said.