Councils fail to prosecute any illegal peat extraction cases – Ó Muirí

Local authorities are failing in their obligations to protect peatlands, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí, Chair of the Oireachtas Climate, Environment and Energy Committee, said prosecution of illegal peat extraction must be brought fully under the remit of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Deputy Ó Muirí said: “An estimated 300,000 tonnes of untraced and irreplaceable peat with a value of almost €40 million is extracted and exported across the world each year.

“Local authorities are currently responsible for taking action against unauthorised commercial peat extraction on any sites that are under 50 hectares in size. I was shocked to learn that to date, not one single successful prosecution has been secured at that level.

“For areas greater than 50 hectares, the EPA has direct responsibility. In a bid to deal with this blatant breach of law, the EPA is exercising its powers to ensure that local authorities take the appropriate regulatory and enforcement actions against unauthorised commercial peat extraction.

“I understand that it has sent notices to seven local authorities requesting that they provide and implement county-wide and site specific enforcement plans for industrial peat extraction in their functional areas.

“This is not good enough and illustrates that there is a major gap in how elements of environmental law are enforced in Ireland. The local authorities’ zero prosecution rate speaks volumes and must be addressed.

“The levels of peat being taken cannot be ignored, our obligations are too great. The responsibility of end-to-end enforcement needs to be given to the EPA urgently, ensuring that this dereliction of duty does not continue. The current split in responsibilities has resulted in a continued erosion of our peatlands that must stop now.”