Ireland exported almost €40 million worth of peat last year despite there being no known legal commercial peat extraction operation in the country.
The 371,884 tonnes of peat were sold to 21 countries, including Israel which bought more than 23,000 tonnes worth €3.146 million.
Exports used to be higher, reaching almost one million tonnes in 2020, but have been under 400,000 tonnes for the last three years, although the volume in 2025 was an increase on 2023 and 2024.
That was despite a highly publicised crackdown begun by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2024 on sites operating without authorisation.
RM Block
The EPA says no large-scale commercial peat extraction site is operating within environmental or planning regulations.
“The illegal large-scale extraction of peat is widespread in Ireland,” the agency said.
“The sector does not operate within planning or environmental laws.”
Current laws do not expressly prohibit the export of peat or require any declarations around the material’s source but focus instead on the extraction end of the business.
[ Mapping the hidden black gold that is peat soilOpens in new window ]
Extraction falls under a complex set of licensing and permitting arrangements introduced in 2019 after protracted legal challenges brought an end to the unregulated nature of the industry.
Depending on the size, nature and age of a site, operators need planning permission, an EPA licence, one or two environmental assessments, or some combination of the three.
Some small sites may be exempt for historical reasons or because they are for domestic use, but it is believed there are very few that can claim eligibility.
Planning authorities and the EPA say “project splitting” is taking place where commercial operations are divided into small sites under multiple ownerships, or where multiple old domestic use sites are assembled under one operator, in an attempt to evade the regulations.
The EPA is the enforcement authority for the largest sites, of 50 hectares or more, and says it is investigating about six.
It has passed comprehensive files on 38 large but sub-50 hectare sites to seven local authorities that are the relevant enforcement authorities for this scale of operation.
However, the local authorities have not made progress on these cases, saying they do not have the resources or legal expertise to take on what would likely be lengthy, complex enforcement proceedings that would be strenuously defended.
Minister for Local Government James Browne has powers under 2024 planning legislation to establish a regional enforcement authority to take on complex cases on behalf of city and county councils and indicated last year this could be the best approach to illegal peat extraction.
Those powers went live last October and his department said an authority would be set up “in due course” but did not provide a time frame.
“It should be noted that at present local authorities have full enforcement powers under the current provisions of the Planning Act of 2000, for all enforcement matters,” a department spokesman said.
“[They] are not reliant on the establishment of regional enforcement authorities under the Planning Act of 2024 in order to undertake enforcement related matters.”
Ireland’s peatlands are a vital carbon sink with the potential to soak up and lock away as much greenhouse gases per hectare as tropical rainforests.
They are also a vital habitat for wildlife, a natural sponge to soak up heavy rains and flood waters, and a filter that help keeps river waters clean.
Most are in poor condition, having been industrially stripped for turf and peat moss for the horticulture industry, as well as being drained for conversion to grasslands for farming, and for planting as commercial forestry.
The EPA has described their loss as an “environmental catastrophe”.
