Ireland currently has designated 75 Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs) under national law for the protection of raised bog habitats.

The NHAs complement the main areas of protected raised bog in Ireland which have been nominated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in accordance with the Habitats Directive.

In January 2014, the Review of Raised Bog Natural Heritage Area Network was published and concluded that turf-cutting may continue on the remaining 46 NHAs whose conservation is not required to achieve national conservation objectives.

"The Minister will move to de-designate these sites and will undertake environmental assessment as part of the de-designation process," the review stated.

General Scheme of the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill

The Minister will now submit the General Scheme of the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht for pre-legislative scrutiny. The publication of the legislation is identified as a "100 day action" in the Programme for Government.

Speaking today Minister Humphreys said: “This legislation is an important step forward in terms of securing a long term resolution for turf cutters. It will result in the phasing out of turf cutting on certain existing NHAs by 1 January 2017 in addition to the partial or complete de-designation of certain NHAs. There will be around 2,500 fewer actively cut turf plots in the reconfigured network."

Comment

Michael Fitzmaurice, Roscommon-Galway independent TD and chairman of the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association (TCCA), told the Irish Farmers Journal that he "welcomes" the news.

"As chairman of the TCCA I welcomes today's news," Fitzmaurice said. "But we still have a few hurdles to cross to resolve the whole bog situation".

In a dramatic move on the day of the fourth attempt to elect a Taoiseach in May this year, Fitzmaurice left the Independent Alliance because he could not secure an exemption for turf cutting from planning regulations in the Alliance's talks with Fine Gael.

Although the partnership government committed to reviewing the position in relation to the planning code as it relates to turf cutters in the Programme for Government, Fitzmaurice wanted an assurance on this before agreeing to lend his support to Keny's leadership bid.