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AROUND 150 TURF-CUTTERS have engaged in an overnight stand-off with Gardaí at a bog in Co Galway, after officers attempted to remove equipment used for cutting peat on the bog.
One man was arrested and subsequently released in the overnight dispute, which arose after turf-cutters attend to try and stop the National Parks and Wildlife Service from removing equipment seized from lands near Clonmoylan Bog yesterday afternoon.
Local independent TD Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who has campaigned in favour of retaining turf-cutting rights, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that turf-cutting machinery had yesterday been seized from an area close to the bog, prompting the protesters to hold a sit-down protest.
Flanagan posted one picture to Twitter showing another mechanical digging device, which had not been removed by Gardaí, which was set on fire by unknown means shortly before 4am.
“We discovered that the contractor’s machine was basically like an inferno,” he said, saying protesters had “no idea” how the machine had been set alight, though they “would love to find out”.
The Roscommon-South Leitrim TD said the owner of the machine which was set on fire was extremely distressed, and had been removed to hospital shortly afterwards, such was his distress at seeing his machinery being damaged.
A European Union directive requires member states to conserve peatland habitats on raised bogs, a move which has meant it has had to enforce a total ban on turf-cutting on certain bogs.
Turf-cutters have been lobbying for a ‘phased transition’ system where they would be permitted to continue to cut turf on protected bogland for a three-year period while their operations were moved to unprotected lands.
Flanagan said proposals put forward by turf-cutters to move on a phased basis would have ensured that 103 per cent of the protected lands would remain conserved, but accused the government of failing to lobby for this solution at European level.
“People just want to continue to cut their turf, they’re not interested in compensation, and there is a solution that can satisfy everyone.”
Also on Morning Ireland, justice minister Alan Shatter said Ireland was a risk of a daily fine of €25,000 if turf-cutting continued on protected lands.
“I deplore the fact that we have a member of Dáil Éirenan who has consistently misled those who have, in the past years, had access to cut these bogs, as to what the current position is,” Shatter said.
The minister said it was irresponsible to encourage “illegality and breach of the law”, and defended Gardaí for doing “what they can” to uphold it.
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Very well written article, points laid out perfectly. Wish the author all the best.
The article is littered with references to daft. It became blatantly obvious after getting half way through the article that it’s an ad article. More than likely written by a staff member at the journal
It mentions daft twice. It mentions tea 4 times. Maybe it’s ad for tea. Written by the staff of Barry’s.
PG tips and Lyons tea was mentioned but no barrys.
Really? If you had brains you’d be dangerous!
Hang in there! Stuff sorts itself out eventually
It mentions daft.ie twice. The image at the top is accredited to daft and the journal is affiliated with daft. I already hate myself for having said it so many times in one post but hey some people just need things explained to them. Also there is no authors name or as in some cases authors name left with the journal. It’s an opinion piece with no name attached. I hate to burst your tea bubble but it’s an ad. Have a cup of tea and move on.
The authors name is Sheila Armstrong. And not only is her name there, her picture is right beside it too.
Not the brightest are we Alan.
Hello. I can confirm it’s not an ad!
Ha ha ha very good !
The name and photo weren’t with the original piece when I commented. Also look at her profile she’s a writer. . She wrote an opinion piece about property for a site that has a sister site that deals in property and has numerous ads for that site. O.k it’s not a blatant ad but it’s just a trivial product placement piece. My point I was making for people not to be getting there knickers in a twist about the property situation as mentioned in the piece.
I’m a struggling writer that is in no way attached to the journal. Just to make that clear. Have a good Christmas!
Happy Christmas Sheila, from one struggling writer and enjoyer of tea to another I’m gonna say well done this is class! Journal comments suck but I logged in just for you :P xx
Great column. The exact same thing happened to me. Got the job in Dublin no bother and was over the moon. There was me thinking the hard bit was done and was getting excited thinking about finding new housemates. A couple of days later the excitement turned to frustration. Not for the life of me could I find a place to live. One viewing had 75 people for one room. I ended up breaking my ankle so had to put it on hold for a bit but I’m already looking for a place now. God help the homeless.
There’s the homeless and then there’s the homeless people with mental health issues. We don’t have the services in this country to look after them. We were told last year that this would be helped.
It’s now much much worse. I zigzag across Dublin city centre and I see more and more evidence of people sleeping rough and I see poor shop staff having to handle situations with people with mental health issues (schizophrenia and the like) – they call an ambulance and they tell them to stop wasting their time.
They simply have no agency to call. End the quangos and invest more in services that make real impacts on people’s lives. Mental Health is out Achilles heal as a country – wish government would stop sweeping it under the mat and address it now.
High rise blocks of apartments in the city centre to accomodate enough people that actually work in the city problem sorted!
I’ve no weird habits-we’ll let your flatmates or lack thereof decide this one!!
The housing crisis would be solved tomorrow if proper residential and office buildings of 20, 30 or 40 stories were allowed in the docklands. Its Dublin City Council. They are 100% the problem here.
Sums it up nicely, very well written. Im glad someone has written about this. Can relate completely. Im even amazed you were able to save up rent and deposit in advance while being unemployed.
The best little country in the world …blah blah blah blah blah blah
(And the stupid fcikers
will still vote for me in hundreds of thousands)
:D :D
Fantasic article. And it’s getting the same in Cork now too. The government and Alan Kelly have been lame ducks in handling this issue. If you cannot live reasonably close to where you work at an affordable rate, what’s the point in working
Is it possible to rent a cheap hotel room in somewhere like Ibis for a few months does anyone know?
Fran Yes it is I know hotels in Bray have long term guests
I’ve stayed in hostels for weeks at a time while searching for affordable accommodation as a student so i know that’s possible.
Ah sure as Enda would say this is a great little country to do business with…..
Can there be in existence a comment of yours that doesn’t name Enda responsible for one thing or another? What party do you support?
Used to give FG no 1 and Lab no 2 never again, and maybe you should read thejournal a bit more as I do my best not to reference that idiot.
This is what Enda likes. He loves when property prices are grossly inflated. He loves supply being far lower than demand. He loves little hovels going for mad money. He loves endless supplies of immigrants who will pack themselves into them.
Immigrants ,immigrants,immigrants ,blah,blah,blah.
Codology, it is endas fault. Didn’t he swear a covenant to the people? Or was that pre election video not him? If people are stupid enough to stand by a liar then they can only expect a bit of flak in return. Enda has capitulated to the dictats of the trioka like a lapdog to its master, it’s sickening to see how easily he’s turned on his own fellow citizens once he got a bit of power after so long in opposition, he’s truly a leader only by accident.
Jaysus, I thought London was bad. I wish you the best of luck with your search. Hopefully you’ll find something soon.
mass non eu immigration is a massive issue that is affecting housing amongst other things. Never mentioned by media or the whinge industry intellectuals
It can depend on the time of year your looking, I’ve found summers easier to get something though the last few years i’ve looked outside central Dublin(around and within the circular roads). Most house-shares in the centre are like youth hostels, overcrowded, rediculous bedrooms, too many, shall we say, quirks. Not worth the hassle
This incompetent government, especially angry Kelly, destroy society within 5 years.get rid of them,even their own members ,namely fg td john perry,took them to court for corruption. Enda had the case stopped as perry was going to spill more.that’s what is wrong, they all have something on each other.
Well written article, thanks for putting it out there and I can concur on what a head wrecker of a process it is. My blood boils when I think of this problem, partly because it affects me in much the same way as you have described and partly because this problem has existed since the start of this Gov’s tenure and despite our consistent protestations they have done nothing to address the problem and actually have made the problem worse.I thought that basic human rights included shelter so in effect our Gov is denying us our basic human rights.Stupid expensive rates to rent a place, stupid expensive prices on buying, highly restrictive mortage process, thousands of families living in B and B’s or hotels, E50m on Modular Homes farce, rent allowance farce and the process you have outlined above, it makes no sense whatsoever so what is the deal here. We can’t lobby our elected reps to fix this until we understand the exact reasons why the Gov do what they do. This is going to need some serious investigative journalism, a whistleblower, or David McWilliams style economist to blow this wide open. If FG/Lab is voted back in to power to continue this for another 5 years I shudder to think how it will end. You have my sympathys. Only in this country could the simple enough and universal requirement of having a place to live, be it rent or buy, be turned into a mammoth, head melting ordeal.
This situation is only going to get worse in my opinion, the solution is obviously more supply in the capital but when you have uproar against planning applications (as seen with the proposed development of 400 homes in Raheny) the supply issue is never going to be resolved.
If you think those homes wouldve been affordable to some young person your very wrong. St Annes is one of the few last free public parks that is kept fantastic and a real tourist attraction and local amenity with people travelling from all over nordic europe to it a few years ago to. Building grossly over priced dog boxes there is reflection of bad planning, lack of future planning and no sustainable housing strategy. Nana need to finish Clongriffin a couple of miles away first where there is good already dart lines, buses, schools and shops
The boom is getting boomier,and the landlords are being taxed out of existence.!
Bring back the Maple Ten.
All is forgiven.!
Selfish, greedy ba$tard landlords. That’s all it is. Betcha they are mostly culchies
Is that just a wild guess that you threw out there, David ?
No
oh boo hoo, hand her a hankie.
Great article thanks for sharing Sheila. I have experienced the same situation: queues of people visiting a room stupidily highly priced – inquirying interviews (cup of tea included) with questions of all kind about even your ‘personal habits’…scam
ads, tiny ‘all fit in one’ rooms ridicously overpriced.
It is indeed a landlord’s market.
ads
He can have my side of the bed for a tenner a week
Great article, cork as one person already mentioned is every bit as bad.. I remember back in 2013 when i was to move to an apt got let down last minute as the person changed their mind & no longer wanted to rent it.. I was lucky in the sense i had a friend living in rathcormac so stayed with her but took me ages to find anywhere to live & worse when people say we’ll be in touch & they never even bother… I hope i don’t have to house hunt in the future as it would be a nightmare finding anywhere
Location, Location Location …Land , Land Land, The state can compulsorily purchase land to widen a road but not for homes, unlike Holland and many other countries. Until you use your votes to sort this, then the Irish, their kids and grandchildren will continue to be abused by financial predators for generations.
Lots of subliminal messaging there, Must.Look.At.Daft.Buy.House.Rent
Great expose on the Dublin housing crisis.
Government insist on concentrating economic activity in Dublin region + government declare war on landlords with result that a thousand leave the rental market every month + Dublin’s low density urban sprawl modelled on LA = ‘the housing crisis’.
Is your English as bad sa mine?
What a great Article, I could write better but that was funny :-)
The main problem is that Dublin City Council, disproportionately staffed by Sinn Fein and Green types, seem to get a rush out of low-rise blocks and have ridiculous reverence for old buidings that were merely functional in their day. Their mentality is basically: “Couldn’t have anyone living in a tall building now, sure they might look down on me and think they’re better than me!”….we all pay the price for these small minded people in the form of larger mortgages and longer commutes to work.
It would appear this government is trying the same trick as the last. Let the housing situation fall into shambles, then when people are screaming for change let their developer buddies build whatever they want, wherever they want. Then we end up with the same housing problem plus a lot of ‘ghost estates’. But hey, developers walk away with massive profits building stuff we do not need in places we do not need it.
As a landlord I fully empathise with his plight. However, it’s not the responsibility of private landlords to house the homeless or anybody else.
Tut tut
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