Mayo anger over proposed turf selling ban

The Mayo-based Rural Ireland Organisation has hit back at a suggestion by Environment Minister Eamon Ryan to ban the selling of turf from September 1 next.

Gerry Loftus, head of the organisation, said this is yet another knee-jerk reaction to Ireland's deplorable progress on meeting its climate emission targets.

He said: "Coming at a time when coal, briquettes and all other fuel have become unaffordable to many families, this suggestion is nothing short of pathetic and is yet another attack on ordinary people of rural Ireland.

"While we fully understand our climate obligations, just 5% of the population use turf to heat their homes and surely common sense tells us that statistic should be taken into consideration.

"The Irish people are now paying the price for the deplorable failures by successive governments on climate targets since Ireland signed up to legally binding agreements in 1997 while taxpayers are paying out billions in fines for these failures."