Turf cutting ban will mean a cold winter for many
A NUMBER of elderly people in the East Galway area – who for the first time ever this summer have been prevented from cutting turf in their local bogs – have hit out at the harsh treatment meted out to them by the State.
Three SAC [Special Areas of Conservation] bogs in the Portumna and Killimor area had no turf for domestic use cut on them this summer, ending a tradition that dates back to pre-Famine times.
The bogs affected are Barroughter and Clonmoylan [both Portumna] and Ardraigue [Killimor], where according to local residents, the turfcutting contractor was served with an injunction preventing him from entering the bogs this year.
Ballyshrule resident and member of the local bogs committee, Seán Lawless, told the Connacht Tribune, that for the first time ever a small number of local residents had no turf for their fireplaces this winter.
“The amount of turf cut in those bogs for purely domestic use is quite small, but for the likes of me and other people in the area, local turf has been our fuel source going back the generations.
“We are talking here often about older houses with either an open fire, a range or a stove – but this year our local fuel source has been taken from us,” said Seán Lawless.
He also said that some public representatives from the county who had been very active in the area before the General Election ‘now weren’t inclined to answer their phones anymore’ when local people tried to contact them.
Caption: Anne Lynch from Abbey, Loughrea, in the kitchen beside her Stanley range with her beloved doggies by her side – she has no local turf supply this winter. For the first time ever, locals were prevented from cutting turf in the nearby Barroughter, Clonmoylan and Ardaigue bogs, in the Portumna/Killimor area, following the serving of a State high court injunction on the contractor earlier this year. Photo: Hany Marzouk
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