This article is from page 16 of the 2012-03-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THE campaign by Clare turfcutters to continue what they say is their “age-old right” to cut turf at Tullaher Lough Bog in West Clare now moves to Brussels and will be won.
That’s the battlecry from chairman of the Clare branch of the Turfcutters and Contractors Association, Padraig Haugh, following last Thursday’s march on Leinster House and the passage of a private members motion in the Dáil in support of turfcutters in Special Areas of Conservation.
“I was up in Dublin,” said Mr Haugh, “and people were saying to me that I was hitting my head off a stone wall and there was no point going to Dublin marching and protesting, but we have achieved a lot.
“We have climbed the first hurdle against the directive from Europe which says that we cannot cut turf on Tullaher Lough Bog anymore. There are about 50 people who cut turf there,” he added.
Mr Haugh became chairman of the local branch of the Turfcutters and Contractors Association after a public meeting was staged in Garrihy’s of Moyasta last November and since then has taken the campaign to keep Tullaher Lough Bog open to turf cutters in west Clare.
“There is a high bog area and it’s very small and we are very happy to keep that preserved,” said Mr Haugh, “but there was another portion added into the Special Area of Conservation that’s 1400 hectares and there was no necessity to do that, because the EU is denying people a right to do what families have been doing for hundreds of years there.
“As turf cutters we are determined to fight for the right to cut turf. I’ve cut turf every year since 1948 and we are hopeful that these people in Brussels will see that what we’re looking for is only a small thing.
“We’ve already got concessions from the Government in that they are giving another € 1,000 onto the € 1,000 and a new top up payment of € 500. That’s down to the campaign and we won’t stop until we are allowed cut turf on Tullaher Lough again,” he added.