‘There’ll be a lot of cold homes next winter if this turf ban goes ahead’

Turf contractor Mick Maher thought long and hard before making an offer on the new digger he had found on Done Deal, part of a sell-off by an engineering firm that was closing down.

At €100,000, it was a significant investment – but he was heading into prime turf-cutting season when they would be working flat out from first light for the next eight weeks solid, and he was afraid his old, unreliable machine might let them down. It was available right then, with no lead-in time, and Mick decided that the digger was too good a deal to turn down. And though the 72-year-old contractor had no plans to drive it himself – he “didn’t want to be greedy” – it was set to become an invaluable addition.

The new bog excavator arrived on the back of a truck at Maher’s yard in the picturesquely named townland of Wood-Of-O (coming from the old word for yew trees) outside Tullamore, Co Offaly, late on Friday evening last. Within three days, clear plastic wrap still enrobed its seat as Mick’s livelihood, and that of every turf contractor in the country, lay perilously suspended on a cliff-edge amid news that the sale and distribution of sod peat was to be prohibited from September…

SEE FULL STORY: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/therell-be-a-lot-of-cold-homes-next-winter-if-this-turf-ban-goes-ahead-41558059.html