Can you still cut peat in Ireland?

The cutting of peat in Ireland’s active raised bog network was banned in 2011 to protect the internationally important sites listed as priority habitat for protection under EU law.

Can you still cut peat?

While technically free to those who have the right to cut it, the labour involved in cutting and collecting the peat is not to be under-estimated. Althought it may look somewhat random, the cutting of the peat is highly organised.

How much peat is left in Ireland?

Between 13.8 and 17% of Irish land area is peatland. Only ~28% of blanket bogs in the Republic of Ireland remain in a relatively intact condition (38) due to peat extraction, drainage and forest plantation.

Why do they burn peat in Ireland?

In Ireland, peat has been used for centuries to warm homes and fire whiskey distilleries. For a country with little coal, oil, and gas, peat—deep layers of partially decayed moss and other plant matter—is also a ready fuel for power plants. Peat power peaked in the 1960s, providing 40% of Ireland’s electricity.

Why is peat banned?

Why is peat compost bad for the environment and why is it being banned? For peat to be healthy and function efficiently, it must remain wet. Its extraction for human use dries the peat causing the area to degrade and also increases the risk of wildfires.

Is turf cutting banned in Ireland?

“The ban on the sale of turf is a punishment on people who have no alternative way of heating their homes,” she said.

Is cutting peat bad for the environment?

Though the practice of cutting turf is centuries if not thousands of years old, and still takes place in several countries, there is growing recognition that burning it for fuel is not sustainable. Peat is a highly carbon-inefficient fuel, more so even than coal.

What country has the most peatlands?

Canada contains 27% of the world’s peatlands and is the second country with the most peatlands after Russia.

Is peat legal in Ireland?

Commercial peat harvesting in Ireland has been effectively banned since a landmark High Court ruling in 2019. Fine Gael TD and former foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan said the government should review the ban “against the backdrop of war in Europe & consequent fuel & energy challenge”.

Does Ireland import peat?

In 2021 to date, 42,800 tonnes of peat valued at €7.3m has been imported into Ireland. The vast majority came in from Northern Ireland, followed by the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Is peat banned in UK?

It proposes that the sale of peat for domestic use is banned from May 2024 in England and Wales, but not phased out for professional use until 2028. Bagged growing products, sold to professionals and amateurs, account for 70% of all peat sales in the UK, Defra estimates.

Is turf the same as peat?

Turf is another term for peat, which is removed from the bogs that cover large parts of this area of Ireland. Travelling through this flat landscape, the view is often of huge expanses of brown, dead-looking land with mounds of milled peat, or stacks of rectangular sods of turf laid out to dry.

What do the Irish burn in their fireplaces?

Briquettes are widely used to heat homes and business throughout the country. Siobhán’s Irish Fire Logs are Irish peat briquettes made from the finest milled peat, Ireland’s answer to burning wood.

Is Irish peat sustainable?

This means that industry involved in the production of moss peat in Ireland cannot be described as responsible or sustainable. Of the peat moss harvested in Ireland, 66% is used by amateur gardeners.

Is it illegal to cut turf in Ireland?

An EU habitats directive and Republic of Ireland law make it illegal to cut turf – a traditional domestic fuel – on 53 Irish bogs. They are designated as special conservation areas – part of an EU commitment to reverse biodiversity loss by 2020. Peat, cut and dried for fuel, is known as turf in Ireland.

Is burning peat bad for the environment?

Yet studies show that burning peat moorlands dries out the soil, degrades the natural conditions and releases harmful carbon emissions. It also leads to more flood waters flowing downstream instead of being retained safely on the peat moors.

What does peat smell like?

For many Scotch whisky fans, Islay single malt lovers in particular, their favorite drink is defined by the distinct aroma of peat smoke, a bewitching, earthy perfume of ancient moss. So seemingly addictive is the smell that there is now a cottage industry to deliver peat to your home.

Where are the peat bogs in Ireland?

Raised bogs are a distinctive and characteristic feature of the landscape of the midlands of Ireland in which they are concentrated. They also occur in the Bann River Valley in Northern Ireland, in the vicinity of Omagh, Co. Tyrone, and in East Clare and North Limerick on either side of the mouth of the River Shannon.

Where does Ireland get its peat from?

Private peat producers and those with bog rights continue to extract peat for local markets in the Midlands. Bord na Mona is the only producer of milled peat for electricity production in Ireland.

Where is Ireland importing peat?