Extraction of peat in Ireland

Cutting Turf
Photograph by Dorothy Hartley

Peat extraction in Ireland is undertaken by individuals for domestic turf consumption using traditional and mechanical means. See an example of traditional turf cutting in Ireland in this popular YouTube clip, where a slean (shovel-like implement used to cut slices of wet peat) and wheelbarrow are used to extract and transport the peat. Since the 15^th century, turbary (the right of an individual to cut turf for domestic use) has been responsible for the loss of 40% of Ireland’s original peatland area, over 470,000 hectares of raised and blanket bog. This traditional method is labour intensive and slow in comparison to modern methods which use tractors and machinery, but it is also the least-damaging to the landscape.

Mechanised peat extraction intensified in the 1990s causing huge damage to the landscape, in the past the traditional method of turf cutting took many decades before the bog was depleted, but the advent of mechanization hastened the degradation process. This rapid depletion by domestic turf cutters motivated action by the government, with turbary rights being slowly removed from many domestic turf cutters. 

The extraction of peat on an industrial scale fuels the 1.2 to 1.5 million tonnes of peat that is burned in either sod of briquette form in homes each year, in addition to the peat burned to generate power in the last remaining peat-fueled power station nationally at Edenderry Co. Offaly. Along with this, the extraction of peat for use in horticultural applications as moss peat removes an estimated 2.5 million cubic metres (1m x 1m x 1m) per year, of which 90% is exported.