TD calls for commercial turf sales to resume during energy crisis

Independent TD Carol Nolan has called on Government to immediately suspend the commercial turf sale ban to ease energy cost pressures on families.

The Offaly TD said that Government should re-allow retailers to stock turf for home heating and to allow turf to be advertised for sale once again.

“We are importing hundreds of tonnes of peat and briquettes into this country while banning the sale of our own natural resource,” Nolan said.

“It was also a plainly idiotic thing to do and it must be reversed.”

The Independent TD stated that she had warned in 2022 that the clampdown on commercial turf sales 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.

Culture

“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.”

Deputy Nolan said that the current regulations which prohibit the advertising and retail sale of turf, while allowing the limited gifting of the fuel for those with turbary rights, have created confusion and hardship for rural dwellers.

“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.”