Turf cutting injunction
Senator P. J. Murphy again urges the Minister to seek lifting of a High Court injunction affecting turf cutting in south-east Galway. He says families were left without turf last winter and may face the same again.
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.
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. 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. 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.
Comment on this
I am giving the Senator latitude. This might be a matter for a Commencement at some stage.
Comment on this
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.