Turf cutting family laments bog standard treatment on the part of Bórd na Móna

A Tipperary family of bog owners who have been supplying generations of householders with the best of dry turf, are up in arms over a decision by Bórd na Móna to turn off pumps after they abandoned the locality, thereby flooding the adjoining landowners.

The Webster family from Gortnahoe who own, andhave been operating a number bogs in the area for many years, have tried to reason with the semi-State company for almost two years now, but are meeting with no joy .

The big problem occurs in Longfordpass and Leigh where, despite the very dry weather for the best part of a month, a large portion of the bog is under water. And, the Websters annual yield from this bog will be at about 5% of what it should be, resulting in a huge financial loss to their company Rí na Móna.

Machinery parked up in the bog

George Webster and his son Trevor have been counting the cost of the actions of Bórd na Móna which they say have had a very negative impact on their ability to work the bog at Leigh and Longfordpass. Even if the pumps were turned on immediately, it is too late for the current harvest as it would take some time for the bog to dry out and for machinery to be able to work on it.

“We have only a small portion of the bog in which we can work because of the flooding which is occurring. That means that we are down to about 5% of our usual amount in the bog and at the moment you couldn't even drive a car in there let alone the heavy machinery we use in the harvesting process,” George Webster said.

When the Tipperary Star visited the bog, it was a beautiful, peaceful morning with the sun shining and a gentle breeze blowing. This had been the way for a number of days, but yet the bog is under water and a large pond exists where Trevor and George should be drawing out peat for turf.

Bórd na Móna, the Websters says, turned off their pumps when they left the area and this resulted in the water making its way into their bogs, thereby ensuring that they could not operate. It would cost thousands for the Websters to bring in pumps of their own and even if they did, they would not have a route to pump out the water.

“The frustrating thing about all of this is that if Bórd na Móna just turned on the pumps for a time, it would make a huge difference to us. We have made our case to them time and again, but they are just not listening and they are not engaging with us. We are just small fry as far as this giant semi-State company is concerned and they have no interest in trying to help us out, as far as I can see. And remember, this problem is of their making, not ours, but it is we who are suffering as a result,” Trevor Webster explained.

Having invested very heavily in machinery to work the bog, the Websters are at a significant financial loss each year the section is out of production. On the day we visited, the machinery was lying idle - normally at this time of the year it would be all systems go as they get ready for individual households to take their usual plot in order to get the stock in for the winter.
But, the supply of turf will be down considerably this year, as it was last year, and there is no indication at this stage that Bórd na Móna will co-operate into the future to pave the way for the bog at Leigh and Longfordpass to be brought back into use again.

“We have tried everything we can think of to try and get Bórd na Móna to engage with us and we have tried to go through public representatives as well, but none of them have been of any use to us at all. Nobody wants to know about the small operator and it is very annoying. We have been supplying turf here all our lives and there is plenty of turf left in that bog, but what good is it, if we can't harvest it. I don't know what they expect us to do with the bogs now - the regulations are so strict for us and yet big companies can do what they are doing and the small man doesn't matter. Bogs have given employment to so many people down through the years, but it seems as though people just don't care about that anymore,” George Webster said.

The Websters are still hopeful that something can be done to alleviate the situation in time for next year's harvest. In the meantime, they seem to be spending their time cleaning up after people who dump rubbish of all kinds in the bog and repairing their machinery which is being vandalised and destroyed by intruders in search of diesel and metal. All in all, it's a very sorry tale..