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NEW LAWS HAVE been published which will allow people to cut turf in bogs which were previously protected under heritage laws.
Rural Affairs Minister Heather Humphreys published legislation during the week to de-designate 46 National Heritage Areas (NHAs) in Ireland.
Natural Heritage Areas are special areas of conservation, usually designated to protect wildlife habitats in places such as raised bogs.
Under the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000, 75 raised bogs were deemed NHAs and as such turf cutting was due to cease on them.
As well as this, a further 53 Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation were designated under an EU Habitats Directive, which meant turf couldn’t be cut on them.
However, turf cutters have long protested these designations, with heated demonstrations and negotiations taking place over the past number of years between turf cutters and former Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan.
New legislation
Now, Humphreys has moved to try to draw a line under an issue that dogged the previous government.
The legislation published during the week will de-designate 39 raised bog NHAs and partially de-designate seven raised bog NHAs.
The news laws are implementing the recommendations of a 2014 review of the raised bog NHA network, which was approved by Government.
The review found that Ireland could more effectively conserve threatened raised bog habitats through focused protection and restoration of a reconfigured network.
“I recently announced my intention to bring forward this legislation, which is an important step forward in terms of securing a long term resolution for turf cutters, while also ensuring that Ireland meets its obligations under the Habitats Directive,” said Humphreys.
The reconfiguration of the network will have many environmental benefits and will result in a greater area of protected bog habitat being safeguarded than under the current network.
The counteract the impact of de-designating the NHAs, Humphreys said that 25 bogs in public ownership or where there is reduced turf cutting pressure will be designated as protected habitats.
Humphreys said that this will result in 2,500 fewer actively cut turf plots than there is now.
“First step”
Independent TD for Roscommon Michael Fitzmaurice – a vocal advocate for turf cutters – welcomed the announcement by Humphries, saying it was a ”step in the right direction” but that more needed to be done.
“The legislation was announced two years by the last government but they never published it,” he told TheJournal.ie.
“Basically we ended up waiting on that legislation to come through.
I got it put into the Programme for Government was that it has to be published in the first 100 days of the new government.
Fitzmaurice said that it solved “only part” of the problem and that other NHAs and Special Areas of Conservation needed to be looked at and re-designated.
“Turf cutters welcome this being published but there are other issues that need to be resolved,” he said.
We are making progress but there is lots more to be done.
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Served on board ship of Ireland AIsling P23 for a few years..she nearly sunk in the med off Israel due to bad weather Force 10…tough cookie great crew
We’re you on it for that?sounds interesting could you tell us more?
Was on it P23 when the tanker Kowloon bridge tanker ,ship sunk off cork in 1987 in force 9 , three week security task. On for operation mallard (cant tell u) anchored of carlingford lough for 2 weeks and meany outher seach and rescue missions. Best kept ship in NS
@John Kennedy: must have forced the english out of you and all. :o
I’ll offer 29 quid for her !
Well done.
@Paudi Onail: *English
Was a recruit with. Served on Either same time you were on Aisling
I would have thought she’d have stood up to more than a force 10.
Fine men were on board.
The fivest
The Journal thinks highly of the RA.
Would they not permanently anchor it at the docks & make it into an attraction ?
More like an eyesore, be better anchored at Bachelors walk as a junkie clinic & brother
@OU812: Not really she’s not designed/big enough for a museum ship, nor are those cheap to sustain and support.
0812. Not suitable. A 60 m fisheries protection vessel is not HMS Belfast and has very limited attraction and potential. The upkeep per year wouldn’t be feasible and she would end up as an environmental disaster within 10 years like several similar projects in the UK. She still has many years of life left in her and should end being used in other nations service such as Emer and Aoife did.
We always seem to ignore just how awesome our defence forces and naval service are. I blame the media and our TDs for not highlighting the work they do more.
The PDF has a fantastic reputation for UN peacekeeping missions. So much so that when the UN moves into a new area for peacekeeping the Irish defence forces are one of the first groups they go to asking to provide troops. And not even peacekeeping efforts, but combat ones too. Our Rangers have a spectacular reputation internationally among special forces. They won international special forces competitions numerous times going up against the more famous likes of the SAS and the US Navy Seals, sent into East Timor weeks before the main UN force.
And the naval service too. The work they’ve done supporting customs actions, protecting fishing interests, and most recently the amazing work they’ve done (above and beyond that of other, bigger EU navies) in the migrant crisis deserves every Irish person’s praise and recognition, but even when it is reported no one seems to care.
Compare the sheer number of scandals pretty much every single other state department has suffered over the last couple decades to how many the Department of Defence has had. And they almost always come in on budget…frequently doing an awesome job despite being under budget.
I think we tend to ignore them because we’re neutral and everyone expects an army to be involved in fighting so we don’t think they’re good coz they’re not in wars.
@Bryan Kelly: I wonder if any of those that downvoted you might post something to explain why?
Doesn’t matter whether you write unthreatening, 100% neutral comments here. You could write the most innocuous, non-offensive comments, talking about how much you like oxygen, and I guarantee you’d still get a few red thumbs.
@Andy Sinclair:
I don’t doubt some genuine people have passed through the ranks through the years and done some good work, my issue is the need for 9,500 of them!
There are over 67,000 working in the HSE, even though 20k would be sufficient and nobody ever talks about that. Like it or not we need a defence force.
Andy and Bryan – I gave it the thumbs down. Not because I don’t agree with the good work the people of the defence forces do at home and abroad. Fair play to them. I gave it the thumbs down for your school teacher type, actually more childish detail… And then and then and then and then! I also struggle to think why any proper person would be worried about a red thumb on a comment, let alone a comment not even posted by them! People have opinions, deal with it!
Lmao…can anyone translate Brown Boots gibberish for me?
I think it’s something about my writing style being the repetitive use of “that” despite the fact I can’t find more than one of two in the comment.
But I might be wrong…it’s hard to see through the arrogant, impotent blustering of that response to figure out just what they’re saying.
And @BrownBoots: I don’t care about your red thumbs, just answering a question, but boy howdy do you seem to care about defending your red thumb. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.
@Bwyan – I think you’re forgetting you actually posted on this complaining about getting red thumbed you idiot. As for my arrogance and impotence etc which you refer to, I fail to see any example of that in my comment. The fact you responded within seconds if my comments shows you’ve little to no life and are, despite your protest, majorly concerned about red thumbs, thus making you an idiot! As for the then and then… I wasn’t literally referring to that word and it’s use, I was merely liking you childish explanation of things, which everyone is aware of, so yes… An idiot again! Good man, I’m off out Bryan!
You’re not very good at this are ye? I never complained, someone asked why people would red thumb my comment and I gave a theory, but okay pumpkin, if that equals complaining to you then you do you.
And it’s Saturday. I just got up and I’m sitting here with a cuppa before starting my day. Takes me like 5seconds to respond to your nonsense, not exactly a huge waste of my time.
But sure person who seems irrationally angry at me for……actually could you explain what it is you’re moaning about, you haven’t really made that clear yet.
Bryan, wouldn’t normally be bothered but I like, and find it easy to put pompous guts like yourself in your place. You’ve not once explained or given examples of why you said arrogant etc. To me it seems youre just one of these key board warriors, all guff, the greatest help in your life is the thesaurus app so you can’t feign a level of intelligence and moan about why you aren’t further ahead in life being as smart as you are. But hate to break it to you, it’s your opinion of your level of intelligence which is over inflated, to say the least. Your comments, things you say, mark you out as being someone who likes to think they are more intelligent than the average, but I hate to break it to you, you aren’t in fact your delusional. I don’t even know you but know that you probably are the type who bitches and moans about everyone and unfairness etc. yet you have neither the means nor ability to do anything about it so all you do is this. I’d love to put it in grander terms for you but would be afraid it might go over your head, so in short you’re a loser. I thought your original comment was childish rubbish stating the obvious, your silly retorts have just proved my point further, you idiot. Have a nice day. I should be too harsh, you’re the type of idiot I make a living off! Ha ha!
That was brilliant!!! I’ve never seen someone write so much without saying anything, while desperately reaching so many assumptions that I’m worried you might’ve dislocated your shoulder.
I can’t stop laughing…you’re killing me here. The smug intellectual superiority, while accusing me of smug intellectual superiority is just glorious.
Thanks for the giggles sweetie.
Bryan- I never once claimed to be intellectually superior. My main point was you seem to wish to portray this by your Wikipedia explanation if the the defence forces, and there have been many scandals etc. Regardless of that you wished to tell everyone one all you knew when it’s common knowledge already. But as I said, I reckon you’re that type, and aided by the fact you think that getting up at 13:00 on a Saturday is something to be proud of, well done! So tonight before you put your Jim jams on and lay your head down after a tough weekend of giving your opinion, Ahem in your case regurgitating an opinion from some online source, heaven forbid your own, so right before you start to drift off to dream about life not as a git, just think, for all the rubbish you spout, you’re still gonna have to get up in the morning and still be yourself, everyone can’t be wrong all the time as you think! Maybe it’s just you then, maybe, it most certainly is, you git. Your comments, are just those of antagonistic fool with nothing of substance, much like yourself really, so a good reflection. Speaking of which, tomorrow morning, maybe reflect on why it is where you are, stop blaming others and making things up and do something about it yourself.
Navy friend of mine was on board the night they intercepted the Marita Ann and boarded her. A future TD pulled a gun on members of our Naval Service which jammed when he attempted to fire.
@yelkcub: whacks of bs that story
@yelkcub: thats a pity isn’t it. What a pile of $hite
Yelkcub,put away whatever you’re smoking
@yelkcub: Not sure why you’re being downvoted. The record shows that Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris was on board that night so what you’re saying is highly plausible.
If he produced a weapon, he should have been nailed before he had a chance to pull a trigger. Sounds a bit ropey imo !
@bopter: Cause the Shinner bots don’t like reality.
What an insult to both sides. Most comments on here favour one side but this is new, the most bitter, hate em all.
Potentially libellous comment there Buckley. Is there a public record reference for this allegation that a future TD fired a dangerous weapon at the arresting party?
Had a fire in the funnel space back in 2006.. The whole ship went dead after midnight some 50 miles off the south West coast. The whole crew were involved in outing the fire and we managed to get her back alongside to set sail again three weeks later, amazing work by ever crew member. I have now changed profession
A shame that a ship that gave so much fine service must end up being auctioned. She and her many different crews saw some hard times.
Dock it down in Dublin docklands and live there it’s be the cheapest house in the area.
She was a great help to Fisheries Protection. Thanks for your service Aisling may your next life never know shame nor dishonour.
Hopefully the boat reads you’re nice message.
Turn it into a Brothel as a tribute to all sailors and leave it out in Dublin Bay til’ it catches crabs.
“IRA Ship”. Didn’t know the IRA had ships.
@Eamonn: it’s a bit like the US President and any plane he’s on being designated Air Force One. If the RA are on board running guns into the Republic then it’s an IRA ship.
The pira had a fleet of aircraft carriers. They have been decommissioned thanks to the good Friday agreement.
True prop Joe. The carrier nuclear cores are going to 7 ESB power stations for conversion. The other 10 are for new stations.
@Eamonn: would t that be the IRN (Navy) then!
@Eamonn: aint it mad how the dail has quite a few convicts
What sort of vessel will they be buying with the proceeds of the sale to replace her with?
@John O’Driscoll: They already replaced her with the P 63 WB Yeats, there’s a fourth hull ordered increasing the size of the Fleet. The money won’t be huge from the sale. (the P60′s are about 60 million euro’s)
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. The record shows that Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris was on board that night so what you’re saying is highly plausible.
Bopter,one more time for the hard of hearing
Now why can’t this ship be kept and made into an exhibition on the Liffey. There’s lots of people who would love to see the workings of ship.
@Steven Hillert: I really doubt there’s enough in Ireland to make her viable, more over she’s a small ship never designed for large movement of people through her. The costs of sustaining “museum ships” is fairly high with both the US and UK having “historical” naval ships sink at anchor or become so rusted they had to be scrapped. And the Defence Budget is small enough as it is, spend the money on a new Sail Training ship would be the better option if you wanted a “PR” feature.
We have a training ship the Jeanie Johnson at a cost of over 9 million euros !!
So is my Johnson
We could take the proceeds of the sale and build another sail training vessel. The Asgard 2 insurance money was wasted. Her mission inspired a couple of generations of Irish teenagers.
Lots of spelling errors to boot!
@John Cusack: There’s no way that the money from her auction will pay for a sailing ship (if there’s anything short of 10 million for a sailing ship I’d be surprised).
I bet yer man in mayo who bought the train and jet passenger plane will buy it for his clamping site!
Can someone explain to me why we need to replace this ship. Theres absolutely no reason why it cant be refitted and redeployed, i would prefer to see investment in air reconnaissance drones which would be able to cover more areas than another navel vessell for less investment. Total waste of tax payers money.
@Jimmy Berg: You really don’t have a clue do you? 1) the Navy has moved to at least 90m hulls due to sea state conditions, 2) it’s berthing capabilities wouldn’t be designed for mixed crews or up to modern standards 3) it now has an orphan weapon system in the NS and can’t be refitted for anything else 5) it’s hull is worn out, with all of that class having to have work done on their welds just to last this long.
More over the last study suggested at least 12 hulls and that was before we started deploying outside EEZ waters (which have expanded massively recently), and a drone can’t board a ship can it? It can’t check nets or cargo can it? Or provide medical support (which Rosin has had to do twice this week alone).
The 60 odd million for the P60 class is a) nothing in total Government spending b) is a bare minimum spec for what we need.
have your say