‘No better time to reverse ban on commercial sale of turf’: Carol Nolan

Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has called on Government to immediately suspend the ban on the commercial sale of turf and allow retail and advertised sales to resume, at least for the duration of the ongoing energy crisis.

“I am calling on the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Darragh O’Brien, to lift the ban on turf sales. We are importing hundreds of tonnes of peat and briquettes into this country while banning the sale of our own natural resource. It was also a plainly idiotic thing to do, and it must be reversed,” said Deputy Nolan.

“I warned in 2022 that these rules would cause real hardship and anger in rural communities.

At the time I described the proposed ban on the commercial sale of turf as a complete cave-in by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to a bizarre Green Party nanny-state agenda that was determined to infantilise rural Ireland.”

“Rural communities in Offaly and across the Midlands have relied on turf for generations. Indeed, it is not just fuel, it is part of our culture, our heritage and, for many households, the only affordable way to stay warm.”

“The current regulations which prohibit advertising and retail sales while allowing only limited gifting or private arrangements for those with turbary rights have created confusion, anger and genuine hardship.”

“The Government’s own policy has left us in the absurd position of importing fuel while criminalising the sale of our own.

Enough is enough. I am demanding that the ban on turf sales be suspended immediately so that retail and advertised sales can resume,” concluded Deputy Nolan.