17 DECEMBER 2019

ICSA rural development chair Tim Farrell has said the Government decision not to impose a nationwide ban on smoky coal is a victory for common sense. “For the ban to go ahead it would have to include both turf and timber, so this decision will be a big relief for households right across rural Ireland who depend hugely on these locally sourced fuels,” he said.

While a ban on smoky coal will be introduced to an additional 13 towns, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton today (17 Dec) confirmed that a nationwide ban was off the cards.

“The idea that people in rural Ireland should be prevented from heating their homes with logs or turf was a ludicrous one. ICSA has consistently highlighted the insanity of these proposals and should they have passed it would no doubt have caused a mutiny. It is absurd that ordinary decent people could be criminalised for burning logs from a fallen down tree or thinnings from forestry plantations.”

ENDS