PJ Murphy
Agricultural Panel · Fine Gael · Ireland
“If issues regarding the day-to-day operation of licensing systems cannot be discussed at the appropriate forum, it is difficult to know where they can be discussed, other than on the floor of this House. I understand a further phase of stakeholder engagement is planned for the coming months.”
“I thank the Minister of State very much for her answer. Although I take on board what the Minister of State has said, there is no doubt but that there are glaring inconsistencies right across the country, even from division to division and from station to station, in the implementation of the existing rules on the granting of firearms lic…”
“These concerns were reinforced at a recent briefing in the audiovisual room in Leinster House, hosted by the National Association of Regional Game Councils, NARGC, and the Firearms Users Representative Group, FURG, which was well attended by Members from across the political divide and from all parties.”
“These concerns include lost or misplaced applications; delays in processing; additional documentation requirements that go way beyond the published guidelines; applicants being told they own too many firearms, despite meeting the legal requirements; and the failure to provide formal refusal letters outlining the reasons for decisions.”
“I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, to the House and take this opportunity to congratulate her on her recent appointment. I wish her all the best in her new role. I raise an issue of significant concern to many law-abiding firearm licenceholders throughout rural Ireland.”
“I ask the Minister of State, as a matter of urgency, to meet representatives of FURG and the NARGC, the largest rural pursuits membership organisation in the country and the second-largest sports organisation in Ireland in terms of membership after the GAA, to hear directly from them regarding the challenges facing licensed firearms holde…”
The complete record
Every one of 241 lines we hold for PJ Murphy, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 5.
“We need attendance in an official capacity by the second-largest sports body in Ireland, the NARGC. Although it has over 80,000 members, it does not have an official representative on the task force. It is bizarre to even comprehend the make-up of the task force. I urge the Minister of State to take this on board, and I look forward to working with her on this.”
“I thank the Minister of State very much for her answer. Although I take on board what the Minister of State has said, there is no doubt but that there are glaring inconsistencies right across the country, even from division to division and from station to station, in the implementation of the existing rules on the granting of firearms licences, particularly for young people who want to enter the sport. We have to tighten up regarding the inconsistencies. People need to know where they stand. At the current talks in Kilmainham between the various stakeholders, the NARGC, the second-largest sports body in Ireland, does not have an official representative. What we have is the equivalent of a task force to discuss the future use of hurleys without an invitation to the GAA to attend. It is crazy.”
“I ask the Minister of State, as a matter of urgency, to meet representatives of FURG and the NARGC, the largest rural pursuits membership organisation in the country and the second-largest sports organisation in Ireland in terms of membership after the GAA, to hear directly from them regarding the challenges facing licensed firearms holders and to ensure their concerns are reflected in future policy decisions. The 150,000 licensed firearms holders in this country deserve a fair, consistent and transparent licensing system, meaningful engagement with the Government and a voice in decisions that may significantly affect their activities.”
“These concerns were reinforced at a recent briefing in the audiovisual room in Leinster House, hosted by the National Association of Regional Game Councils, NARGC, and the Firearms Users Representative Group, FURG, which was well attended by Members from across the political divide and from all parties. It provided an opportunity to hear directly from firearms users affected by these issues. As the holder of a number of licensed firearms, a lover of rural pursuits and chairman of my local gun club, in Ardrahan, County Galway, I acknowledge the work of the NARGC, which is the umbrella body for all the small gun clubs right around the country, and FURG, both of which have consistently highlighted the concerns of licensed firearm users across Ireland.”
“If issues regarding the day-to-day operation of licensing systems cannot be discussed at the appropriate forum, it is difficult to know where they can be discussed, other than on the floor of this House. I understand a further phase of stakeholder engagement is planned for the coming months. Will the Minister of State confirm that concerns relating to inconsistencies in the interpretation and implementation of firearms licensing, which stakeholders report were ruled out of order during the first phase of engagement, will specifically be included in the next phase? I also ask her to review the structure of the forum. There remains uncertainty regarding its remit, membership and representation, and it appears many participants attend in an individual capacity rather than as representatives of recognised national organisations.”
“These concerns include lost or misplaced applications; delays in processing; additional documentation requirements that go way beyond the published guidelines; applicants being told they own too many firearms, despite meeting the legal requirements; and the failure to provide formal refusal letters outlining the reasons for decisions. These inconsistencies undermine confidence in the system and create unnecessary uncertainty for responsible licenceholders who are simply seeking to comply with the law. There are also concerns regarding the stakeholder engagement process established by the Department. At a recent meeting in Kilmainham, concerns relating to inconsistencies in firearms licensing were reportedly ruled out of order.”
“I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, to the House and take this opportunity to congratulate her on her recent appointment. I wish her all the best in her new role. I raise an issue of significant concern to many law-abiding firearm licenceholders throughout rural Ireland. Ireland has approximately 150,000 firearm licenceholders, accounting for more than 210,000 licensed firearms. Firearms ownership is tightly regulated and Ireland's licensing regime is widely regarded as one of the most stringent in Europe. While many firearms certificates are processed efficiently, concerns continue to be reported across the country regarding inconsistencies in interpretation and implementation of the licensing system.”
“As a nation, we have to be brave enough to bite the bullet and have an adult conversation about the feasibility of modular nuclear generators in substations around the country. We have a proud history in western Europe of electricity generation and creation of networks and infrastructure. ESB workers went all over continental Europe, eastern Europe and Africa in the 1960s and 1970s as subcontractors, building grids for other countries. It is one of our great national banks of knowledge. We have to look forward with an open mind, to learn from the past and to have serious, adult conversations about the future of energy generation in this country.”
“We have to look at the great engineering works done over the past century, like Ardnacrusha, which fundamentally changed our great waterway, and like what was done in Ballyshannon on the River Erne. Ulster's leading salmon fishery was altered, along with the upper and lower Lough Erne, to drain into the sea through Ballyshannon. Those fisheries were changed forever. We must look at what we are doing now in terms of solar generation. Our greatest resource is our fertile land. In a country with an amazing climate for growing food, we are covering hundreds upon hundreds of acres with solar panels to produce green energy. We must have a conversation about where we are going with this in the long term.”
“The Government has done fantastic work in making electricity more available and more affordable to people throughout the country, with the national fuel allowance scheme reaching up to 50,000 more households and an additional 38,000 new homes being connected by the ESB by 2025, which was an increase of almost one fifth on 2024. A further €18.9 billion investment by the Government in Ireland's electricity grid and distribution system between now and 2030 will support the provision of 80% of electricity generation through renewable sources. We have to look at the last hundred years in order to think about where we are going to go in the future in terms of the national plan for delivering the power we need in our homes.”
“I second the motion with great pleasure. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss it. Since the early days of the State, electricity generation and the ESB, along with infrastructure such as Ardnacrusha, has been one of the great success stories of the State. We are almost unique in western Europe in that we as a State retain ownership of 97% of our national grid and in excess of 95% of our main electricity supply company. The ESB has been a shining light in terms of State companies since its establishment.”
“I call on the Bus Éireann CEO and the Minister for Transport to read carefully the email they will receive from the Gort Advocacy Corlann, to pay heed to it and to implement what these people are requesting.”
“For older people, passengers with disabilities, and those travelling for medical appointments or essential journeys, these charges are unnecessary financial accessibility barriers. The campaign is calling for Bus Éireann and the Government to remove all online booking and and seat reservation fees for free travel pass holders and to ensure free travel is genuinely free on all services. It is also calling on the Government to make sure that everyone, including people who do not use computers, smartphones or online bookings, can use the service easily. This practical and achievable change would improve fairness, accessibility and dignity for many people who rely on public transport every day.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. I wish to raise the matter of a fantastic email I got from a local group in my own hometown of Gort. Four campaigners, namely, Pat Flaherty, Ryan Smyth, Thomas Nash and Anne Mahon, facilitated by their supporting staff officer, Carol Arcos, call themselves the Gort Advocacy Corlann. They contacted me asking for my support in calling for the removal of online booking and seat reservation fees for free travel pass holders using Bus Éireann services. They mentioned that although many people are entitled to free travel, they are still being charged additional fees when booking seats online, particularly on busy or long-distance routes.”
“Maidir le halt 6, tá a fhios ag gach duine sa Teach seo go bhfuil fadhb mhór i ngach ceantar Gaeltachta timpeall na tíre le tithíocht. Tá a lán oibre le déanamh ag na húdaráis áitiúla agus comhlachtaí cosúil le BÁNÚ i gConamara agus Tinteán i ngach ceantar Gaeltachta timpeall na tíre. Tá an chumhacht ag Údarás na Gaeltachta le bheith ag oibriú leis na húdaráis áitiúla i leith fhadhb na tithíochta i ngach ceantar Gaeltachta. Is mian liom mo thacaíocht féin, agus tacaíocht mo pháirtí, Fine Gael, don Bhille seo a chur in iúl.”
“I suggest that while the best and most sustainable place to meet the housing needs of our rural people is in local rural villages, but if we are not in a position to facilitate that, which, in many cases, we are not, we must facilitate the building of homes in the rural hinterlands of these villages.”
“While there is light at the end of the tunnel for some of these villages through the new developer-led wastewater infrastructure guidelines, many villages will not qualify under the guidelines as they currently stand due to the lack of river or above-ground drainage in those villages. That, unfortunately, will be the case for virtually every village in the limestone region of south and mid County Galway. If, as a State, we are unable to service our rural villages to a degree that allows them to develop and meet the housing needs of the local population and, at the same time, are unable as a State to generate guidelines or specifications to allow private contractors to do so, then we certainly have an obligation to facilitate the building of homes by rural people in the hinterlands of these villages.”
“Have we learned lessons from what happened in many areas during the relaxed planning rules of the early Celtic tiger years? In my county, there are many miles of rural roads lined with ribbon development from the Celtic tiger years, with farmers farming land directly behind the homes of people with whom they have no connection. Needless to say, this very often leads to tension and aggravation. This is something that we need to consider. That being said, with all of this taken into consideration no rural community can be closed to development. As the Minister of State knows, over 540 of our rural villages are without municipal wastewater infrastructure. As such, they have remained closed to development for the past 15 years.”
“First and foremost among them must be the need and right of rural people to live their lives within the communities they were reared in, where they feel at home and where they belong. Second, we must consider the need for rural communities to survive. We have learned throughout the past century in rural Ireland that rural communities rarely stand still. They grow and develop or they slowly die. We have seen shops, pubs, post offices, etc. in villages throughout rural Ireland close over the past decade, all while the local authorities imposed stringent planning regulations preventing young couples from building homes in those communities. Serious consideration must be given to how we picture the Irish countryside in the future. We must ask whether we are willing to reopen Irish rural roads to the prospect of ribbon development.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming into the Seanad today to discuss the very important subject that is rural planning. Coming from County Galway, a strongly agricultural region within convenient commuting distance of Galway city, I can safely say that, throughout my time in politics to date, the subject of rural planning has been the single most contentious and divisive subject that I have dealt with. I welcome the Minister of State's willingness to discuss this topic here today and the Government's ambition to put in place consistent and nationally applicable guidelines on rural planning. When considering the subject of rural planning, there are a number of important factors that must be taken into consideration.”
“It provides full transparency on rent history and market comparisons. It provides long-term security through minimum duration tenancies. These are not aspirational commitments. They are law, in force since 1 March 2026. The Sinn Féin motion is a political attack that fails to account for the Government's substantial recent legislative achievements. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 and the Delivering Homes, Building Communities policy represent a comprehensive two-pronged response to the rental crisis, robust tenant protection in the short term and a credible plan to deliver the supply that will bring lasting stability in the housing sector into the future.”
“This claim, I am afraid, ignores the concrete legislative action taken in 2026. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 is the strongest tenant protection legislation in the history of this State. On more than one occasion, the Minister, Deputy Browne, has stated correctly that tenants in Ireland will have the most robust set of protections they have ever had. Sinn Féin's own position of opposing investment-friendly policies would reduce supply and push rents higher over the medium term. It has been suggested by the Opposition that the Government is failing renters. The legislation enacted earlier this year provides renters with a national rent cap for the first time outside the rent pressure zones, RPZs. It provides effective abolition of no-fault evictions for larger landlords.”
“What is being proposed presents a risk of market distortion and reduced money for investment in maintenance and refurbishment of properties that are on the rental market. What Sinn Féin is proposing would freeze the market and make the shortage of rental accommodation substantially worse as the exodus of small landlords from the market would accelerate as a result of what is being proposed, if it were to go through. This Government has already introduced substantial residential tenancy changes. I find it most entertaining to hear the Sinn Féin spokespersons quoting Vienna as a fine example of the rental market. When this Government tried to reduce minimum apartment sizes, in line with Vienna, guess what Sinn Féin did? It voted against it, as usual. We hear the argument that this Government is making the housing crisis worse.”
“I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. I thank him for being here for this debate this evening. We need to look at the question; why would anybody be a landlord? Why would anybody put their hard earned money and savings into buying a second or third house and renting it out? Why? They would do it to make some profit is the obvious answer. What is being proposed here is that all of these small landlords, who saved their hard earned money over many years to buy a second or third house, would no longer be in a position to make enough of a profit for it to be worth their while doing that. Already, we are seeing a huge number of small landlords leaving the market because of interventions to date that many people suggest to me have already gone too far. However, what is being proposed here goes way further again.”
“Land is currently being minded by armchair farmers. We need to get that land into the hands of young farmers. The MEPs are conscious of that. Like my colleagues, I ask MEP Mullooly to withdraw his shocking statements. He has stained an industry with his statement today. We have all listened to his populism and his nonsense over the past number of months about the fuel protests and Mercosur. He should not stain this House with his nonsense. He should have respect for this House and withdraw his statements.”
“I thank our MEPs for being present. I thank them for all the work they do on our behalf. I was delighted Ms Walsh mentioned the farm retirement scheme. She absolutely hit the nail on the head regarding the flaws in the previous farm retirement scheme. My grandfather availed of that scheme. While it helped to transition the use of land from generation to generation, it was filled with flaws in requiring the retiring farmer to step away. We need to achieve two priorities from any new farm retirement scheme. The first is the transfer of knowledge from the retiring farmer to the farmer who is taking over. The second relates to the fact that our land is a limited resource and we only have a small amount of it. We need to ensure that the land we have is being used by the people most fit to use it.”
“I urge the Minister of State to work with the Department and the Minister for agriculture to ensure the publication of that report as soon as possible.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Speaking as somebody who worked for over 20 years as a commercial beekeeper, I am aware of the fact that bee imports into Ireland are reducing, but reducing is not enough. They have to be stopped completely. When it comes to introducing disease, parasites and breeding that cannot be controlled once it is in the country, the only acceptable number of imports is zero. That can only be achieved with a complete ban on the import of bees. NUIG fulfilled the requirement of answering the report in September 2025. That was nine months ago. It is past time for that report, its findings and the response to the report to be published by the Department. We do not know where we are going until we know the findings of that. Their publication is long overdue.”
“If it will I want to know when and if it will not I would like to know why. The required research has been done. Does the Department consider that a robust scientific and legal basis for legislative action based on the findings of this research now exists and does the Government intend to amend the Bill in any way based on the research's findings? Given the imminent threat posed by the tropilaelaps, mite does the Department intend to implement an interim ban on the importation of honeybees as soon as possible as a precautionary measure? Will the full assessment of the research by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's independent experts be released together with the results of the research delivered in December 2024?”
“Not only must this ban be introduced for the protection of the pure strains of indigenous bees but we also must think about the threat of disease and parasites coming with the import of bees. Back in the late 1990s or early 2000s the varroa mite was accidentally introduced to this island. My God, how we wish we could turn the clock back and implement the ban before that parasitic mite decimated our bees in the 1990s and early 2000s. The warning was there. The Government at the time was warned we needed a ban on the introduction of bees but there was no action. Now we have the tropilaelaps mite, which is a much more dangerous mite, on the edge of Europe. It will absolutely decimate our bees if we do not implement a ban as soon as possible. I have four questions for the Minister of State. Will the Government support this Bill?”
“The beekeeper has no control over the mating process. Therefore we have no ability to keep the strain of bees pure once non-native bees are present in the vicinity. A number of companies across Europe are marketing non Apis mellifera mellifera queens to be sold into Ireland. Beekeepers here, again and again, choose to buy those bees, and they are endangering the last true remaining stock of northern European honeybees. With every year that passes, the percentage of pure Apis mellifera mellifera in our national gene pool decreases in comparison with the non-native strain. Very soon, the scales will be tipped beyond the point of no return. Whenever the percentage in the gene pool reaches a certain level, we cannot recover, and we are very close to that point.”
“There is one last remaining stronghold of the northern European black honeybee in the world, which is Ireland. In recent years, imports of queen bees of different strains have increasingly diluted the pure genes of our native honeybee. To explain how difficult it is to control, when bees mate and breed, they are not like livestock. They are not like horses, cattle or sheep, where the bull is put in the same field as the cow the farmer wants it to mate with, or a stallion with a mare, or a ram with a ewe. We cannot control the way that bees mate. When a virgin queen bee is ready to mate, she flies out of the hive and to a bee congregation area, where she will mate with between eight and 20 drone bees from a number of different colonies in the vicinity, and then return, mated, to her parent colony.”
“I appreciate the selection of this Commencement matter. I have been attempting to raise this for a number of months and feel particularly strongly about it. I thank the Minister of State for coming in to take the matter on behalf of the Minister for agriculture. In October 2021, Senator Vincent P. Martin introduced a Bill that unanimously passed this House to ban the import of honeybees into Ireland. To give a background reason for wanting to implement such a ban, northern Europe, from Poland to Ireland, France and Scandinavia, up until 100 or 150 years ago, was the home of the northern European black honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera in Latin. Over the past 150 years, the range of this species of bee has declined and declined further and further, with the introduction of Mediterranean and Asian strains of honeybee into Europe.”
“However, over the last two and a half years, Galway County Council has procrastinated and has not yet taken ownership of the castle. During that time, the main tourist attraction in the town of Kinvara - the most photographed castle in Ireland - has remained closed to the public. Hundreds of tourists pass by every day. I urge the Minister of State to intervene and consider the potential for the OPW to take ownership of this property. As Galway County Council continues to procrastinate, the castle remains closed.”
“Therefore, I ask the Minister of State to intervene with the OPW and ask for the necessary stabilisation works to be carried out on the tower as a matter of urgency. If it collapses and we are left with a pile of stones, it will be too late and a tragedy that cannot be undone will have taken place. The third thing I would like to mention is a property not yet under the control of the OPW, namely, Dunguaire Castle, Kinvara, on the Wild Atlantic Way. Dunguaire Castle was previously under the ownership and management of the Shannon Group, along with the castle in Limerick city and Bunratty Castle. When the Shannon Group removed itself from the tourism infrastructure sector, it handed over Bunratty and the castle in Limerick to the relevant local authorities.”
“It is in impeccable condition, as is the whole site. It was built by St. Colman in the eighth century and remains one of our finest examples of a monastic settlement from that period. However, over the last ten years or more local people have noticed an increased lean in the tower. It has had a slight lean for over two centuries but over the last ten years this has been noticed to have increased. It has been monitored mechanically over the past three years and, over that period, the rate of increase in the lean has worryingly accelerated. The site is an OPW site. It is one of our finest examples of a round tower in the country. If it were to collapse, it would be a national tragedy.”
“In the event of a predicted high-rainfall incident such as a one-in-100-year flood event, 50 homes will flood, 175 homes and 46 businesses will be cut off for prolonged periods, 19 rural communities will be isolated, the M18 from Galway to Limerick will close, the Limerick–Galway rail line will close and Crowe Street in Gort will be under water for a prolonged period. This has been seen a number of times during my lifetime and there is a lot of anxiety in the area about it. It is of great importance to the area to get the project moving as a matter of urgency. The second thing I would like to raise with the Minister of State is the Kilmacduagh monastic site, which is an historic site under the control of the OPW just outside Gort, between Gort and Kinvara. The round tower at Kilmacduagh is Ireland's tallest.”
“I thank the Minister for coming to the House to discuss matters related to the OPW. In the few minutes I have, I want to discuss three items of interest to my own area of south Galway. I would first like to speak about an issue raised by Senator Rabbitte, the south Galway-Gort lowlands flood relief scheme. As the Minister of State will know, the south Galway-Gort lowlands area is a low-lying karst landscape. There is no direct river running to the sea from a huge geographical area in south Galway.”
“As a direct consequence of this injunction against the contractor, dozens of families were left without turf for heating or cooking last winter. Now they are facing the same situation again during a fuel crisis. In the interest of justice and fairness, I again call on the Minister to do the honourable thing and go to the High Court to ask for this injunction against this turf-cutting contractor to be lifted.”
“The NPWS at the time objected to and resisted handing back the machinery. During the seizure period, the digger was damaged by fire and the hopper was structurally damaged while it was driven from its parked position and loaded onto a lorry hired by the NPWS to drive it away. Both the contractor's machines were destroyed and to date the Minister has not compensated him for the two machines. In 2025, the same contractor was again singled out by the NPWS under a different Minister. I ask the Cathaoirleach for a few more seconds and I will be finished.”
“It is clear that this man has been singled out by the relevant authorities and the NPWS simply because he operates as a contractor. This is an unbelievable infringement of the rights of this man to enjoy his own property. He surely has the right to enter his own property and to pass and repass on his property. With this injunction the Minister is depriving him of this constitutional right. The same contractor was previously singled out in June 2012 by the NPWS and the then Minister when his digger and his turf hopper were seized by the NPWS on the evening of 20 June 2012 in the presence of a large gathering of gardaí without the relevant warrant on the night. On the morning of 21 June 2012, the assistant Garda commissioner handed back the seized machinery when he discovered that there was no relevant law to seize them.”
“This injunction has been causing serious anxiety, stress, hardship and ill health to the man in question since last June, as well as loss of earnings. He has not been able to cut turf for his clients in the way that he had done for close to 40 years previously. The restrictions that are part of the injunction prevent him from entering his legally held plot at Ardgraigue bog in south-east Galway. His right of way to his property is now physically blocked by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. The injunction was obtained after he had cut turf for himself and for his family members, which he could not harvest or remove from the bog. No other turf bank owners in this bog are restricted from entering their plots to cut their turf or remove it.”
“I will do well to follow that. I ask the Cathaoirleach to bear with me for a few minutes. I wish to speak on a matter that I have spoken about in the House four times in the past three weeks. This is s problem facing the people who wish to cut turf on the turf banks in south-east Galway. I ask that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage apply to the High Court to get it to lift the injunction he obtained from it in June 2025 against a contractor by the name of Mr. Darcy as a matter of urgency. This person is a turf cutting contractor who is being deprived of part of his livelihood as a result of this injunction. The matter is urgent since the turf cutting season is now well under way and must be carried out during this good weather in the early summer.”
“Very often I wonder if it is to appease people who maybe have very little understanding about the difference between the damage being done by cutting turf for a supply in a domestic home on a singular basis as was traditionally done and the industrial-scale peat extraction that was done by the State through Bord na Móna. They have two very different consequences for our wetlands.”
“As is the case with so many of our lost rural traditions, 30 years from now young people will ask, "What happened to the tradition of turf cutting? Why did Irish people abandon the age-old tradition of turf cutting in this country?" While our wetland habitats might be threatened, they are not threatened to anywhere near the same extent as an awful lot of our very endangered rural traditions, and I include turf cutting in that. I fear that we will answer future generations by telling them that this Government was involved in the systematic extermination of an age-old tradition, turf cutting, right across rural Ireland.”
“Yes indeed, my own office has over the past number of months been in touch with both the Minister and the NPWS on the matter on behalf of the 80 families in question in south-east Galway. To a point, I agree with what the Minister of State is saying. This scheme has been very successful for the protection of the peatlands. It just has not been successful for the people on the ground who co-operated with the scheme in good faith. These families co-operated with the scheme in good faith on the clear understanding that a genuine effort would be made to find alternative turf banks for them. The general opinion right across south-east Galway is that the effort made to find relocation turf banks was a very poor box-ticking exercise.”
“Should these 80 families maybe do something that is legally questionable and return to their historic family turf banks, which are now in an SAC area, and cut their turf? Will the NPWS and the Department write to these families to let them know they intend to extend the compensation package for this year and into the future until they are in a position to honour the agreement they made by providing alternative turf banks?”
“I called on the Minister to intervene with three potential options: give a derogation to allow these families to return to cut turf on their original family-held turf banks; continue the compensation package; or, as a matter of urgency, in advance of this year's turf-cutting season, to find alternative turf banks for these 80 families. Regrettably, none of the above has happened. Not only that, there has been no communication between the NPWS and these families in the meantime. The situation we are in now for these families in south-east Galway is that they have empty turf sheds. Fuel prices, as the Minister of State knows, are at an all-time high and the turf-cutting season began last week. Now is the time to have the machines in the bog cutting the turf.”
“It was to be an annual payment that was to be in place for up to 15 years or until the NPWS would be in a position to relocate the families to an alternative turf bank, as the bogs they were working on had been deemed special areas of conservation, SACs. Fifteen years later, we have arrived in 2026. These payments have come to an end and the NPWS has not successfully relocated any of the 80 families in question. These families are now in a situation where their turf banks are on SAC raised bogs. Their compensation stream has come to an end and they find themselves with nowhere to legally cut turf. Speaking in this Chamber on 16 December last, I flagged that this was going to come to a head this spring or in the early summer.”
“I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, for coming in to hear this Commencement matter this morning. I am here yet again to speak about something I have spoken about a number of times previously in this House, which is the cessation of the turf-cutting compensation scheme. In particular, I wish to speak about the situation involving the 80 families in my own area of south-east Galway, who have traditionally cut turf on three bogs, namely Barroughter, Ardgraigue and Clonmoylan, who entered into an agreement with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, back in 2011 through this cessation of turf-cutting compensation scheme. At the time, what these 80 families signed up for was an annual index-linked payment, beginning with €1,500 a year.”