LETTER: Mayo TDs asked to state position on planned ban on selling turf

Sir,

THE government’s plan to ban the sale of turf is unfair, unworkable and must be stopped.

For many households here in Mayo, turf is an important form of heating and is also a rich part of our community’s culture and heritage.

The ban will be a blow to families in Mayo already under financial pressure due to the cost of living crisis.

The policy is poorly thought out and will be unworkable.

Like the carbon tax, banning turf punishes those on the lowest incomes and people in rural communities the hardest.

Meanwhile, the government fails to go after big polluters and instead places the burden on those least able to shoulder it.

The measure is yet another attack on rural communities by this government.

While the push for these policies may be coming from the Greens, they are being propped up by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael as their partners in government.

Climate action is important and the climate crisis is one of the biggest issues facing our planet.

However, a fair government would ensure that it brings people with them on this issue by ensuring policies are reasonable and workable.

Time and time again we have seen this government hitting rural communities while turning a blind eye to the big polluters and carbon emitters.

Rather than causing more problems for rural communities, the government should instead do more to help people with the cost of living crisis by cutting the cost of fuel, giving people better help with their spiralling energy bills and ensuring a cost of living cash payment can go into the pockets of hard-pressed people on low and middle incomes.

I am calling on government representatives in Mayo to come out and say if they support this ban on the sale of turf or not.

Yours sincerely,

Deputy Rose Conway Walsh,

Leinster House,

Kildare Street,

Dublin 2.