Green Party backtracks on rural turf sales ban after outcry

Commercial turf sales will still be banned in urban areas under the new plan, which marks a compromise for the Green Party

Eamon Ryan, the Minister for the Environment, is preparing to soften the forthcoming ban on commercial turf sales. Picture: Rollingnews.ie

The Green Party has compromised on its plan to introduce a total ban on the commercial sale of turf, in response to opposition from rural Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers.

Under the clean air strategy, people would be allowed to continue to cut and burn turf from their own bogs, but the sale of turf would have been banned from this September.

It is part of the state’s plan to reduce air pollution, which ...