‘The only one that paid the price was the workers’ – transition away from turf has not been smooth in Offaly
There are few scents that invoke a nostalgia for old Ireland as much as burning turf – and even fewer that could have major impacts on future generations.
That’s because, while some still hold the hardship and ritual of turf cutting dear, science tells us that bog destruction is causing biodiversity and climate havoc.
When peatlands are mined for fuel or compost, they can no longer store greenhouse gases, and burning what’s extracted releases even more emissions into the atmosphere.
But, according to an Offaly councillor, local people still don’t understand why “the peat industry was more heavily targeted than other industries like agriculture”.
Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Dooley said the county’s “peat industry was shut down overnight”, costing hundreds of jobs and leaving communities that grew up around Bord Na Móna (now known as BnM) like a “retirement village”.
Freshly cut turf laid out in long rows and small stacks to dry. Photo: Getty
Many are still sore about the level of support offered through the EU Just Transition Fund to help communities diversify from peat.
Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency says Offaly has the most illegal turf cutting sites in the State and, last year, a pub in the county went viral for its searing retort against someone questioning their turf fire.
“People feel aggrieved,” Mr Dooley said.
“Everybody was looked after in some shape or form, [even] people who had nothing to do with the peat industry.
“The farmers would say they’re getting a raw deal and Bord Na Móna would say they are getting a raw deal, but, at the end of the day, the only one that paid the price was the workers.
“If you ask anybody in the area, they would say we ended up with more wind farms than any other county. That’s what we got out of it.”
Offaly has transitioned to a focus on renewable energy. Photo: Getty
With the end of large-scale industrial turf and peat extraction, BnM, the semi-state company that administered the bogs, has pivoted its focus to renewable energy.
Jamie Rohu, who wrote a Trinity College thesis on the just transition of bogs, believes the “just transition has been a failure” for peat workers.
At a time when the industry was already in decline, a landmark case in 2019 meant that, because of environmental impacts, companies would have to apply for planning permission to extract turf from areas over 30 hectares.
Dr Rohu said: “The peat industry collapsed in 2020 and just transitions take time. It was a bit of a mess.
“ESB and Bord Na Móna paid such good wages that other companies didn’t bother investing in the midlands because they couldn’t compete.”
They’ve been forgotten about in some ways
He said that meant it was “very hard to do just transition”, as “you have nothing else to compare to industrial peat extraction”.
“These older guys … had been doing a job for 20 or 30 years. They had a skillset and it’s non-transferable. What are you going to do with them?
“They are legitimately not happy. They’ve been forgotten about in some ways.”
Offaly County Council’s climate action and energy co-ordinator, John McNally, acknowledged that the transition from turf “still is difficult for a lot of communities”.
“It’s always going to be difficult to replace like for like, but there’s huge effort and huge energy going in to replace those jobs and to keep the communities viable.”