IFA SAC Project Chairman and Connacht Vice President Padraic Divilly has
called for a wide ranging package for turf cutters this year on 31 SAC
raised bogs.  The rights of bog owners must be protected and a new
Government must address this serious issue.

Mr. Divilly has set out a number of options which must be taken on board by
a new Government.  These include;

- Farmers and landowners must be allowed to continue to cut turf on SAC bogs
for domestic purposes,

- Relocation, where agreeable,  to other bogs in the locality with
compensation,

- A 100% grant for the installation of alternative domestic heating systems
and on going annual payments for heating,

- And the purchase of bogs by the NPWS at a realistic price where landowners
wish to sell.


Mr. Divilly said the €1,000 package which was available to some landowners
who did not cut in 2010, must be doubled for 2011 and extended for a period
of the turf cutting potential of the bog with a minimum of 30 years.

The IFA SAC Project Chairman also said that contractors who lose business as
a result of unavailability of bogs to cut in the future must also be
eligible for the compensation package.

Concluding, Mr. Divilly said that in the upcoming General Election, IFA will
be making a major issue of the proposed NPWS turf cutting restrictions in
the areas affected and he called on farmers to raise their serious concerns
that the restrictions will have with the candidates in the election
campaign.