DUBLIN — The European Commission is taking Ireland to court over its failure to protect environmentally crucial boglands from commercial turf-cutters.
The Thursday move — particularly embarrassing for Ireland, given it’s taking over the EU Council presidency in July — follows a damning report from its own Environmental Protection Agency that documented widespread flouting of EU laws on protecting bogs.
The Commission said in a statement that it is referring Ireland to the Court of Justice of the European Union over its failure to enforce EU requirements, as detailed in a 2019 formal notice and a 2020 reasoned opinion — the final legal warning.
Brussels said Ireland had partially responded to that pressure by curtailing harvesting on sites owned by Bord na Móna (the Peat Board). This state-controlled agency, for decades, oversaw bogland drainage and the mass production of peat bricks to be burned in electric power plants and home furnaces. That agency, since 2020, has sharply pivoted and now styles itself as a peatland conservator and green energy generator rebranded as BnM.
