I am not arguing the pros or cons for this, but what lifted my heart when I read this article was the fact that, somewhere in Ireland, the 'little people' (no pun intended) are standing up to the powers that be, and all the better for it being the EU.
Excellent, I thought. Bring it on! There should be more of it. The EU interferes far too much in our daily lives, often with negative consequences and these peat farmers are making it clear that they want to reclaim the right to do what they have always done with their own land.
"They think it's all about money and that they can buy us off. They can't. This is about our rights to use our land as we wish," says parliamentarian Luke Flanagan.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of turf cutting, I am right behind their fight against the ever-intrusive powers of the EU.
9 comments:
I had no idea the EU had that much power. I thought it was only a currency and trade organization. To me the power over land in the hands of others is scary.
I can see both sides of the question about the peat. We have had similar problems here with imminent domain. I lean toward the rights of the land owner if at all possible.
Oh yes, David. The interference has increased as the years have passed!
Here we have had farms taken away from families who had lived and worked the land for generations. While the gov't taking the land was for the better good, it left the families without a way of making a living. This in addition to losing something they held dear. When gov't begins interfering with a person's ability to provide for his family, it is not a little thing and something I think should only be done at the lowest possible level of gov't - people who know, if possible, the situation first hand.
I say, keep up the fight!
EU busy-bodying appals me too but in the case of peat bogs that took many hundreds of years to form, I'd just say - fine when it's a farmer or a community cutting peat for personal non-profit-making use in the traditional way but it's a different ballgame when peat-cutting machinery is brought in and the name of the game is profit. Then the bogs do need some legal protection.
Very true, David.
I agree, YP but in this case, it was for farmers' or communities' use. I think they brought in the big guys to get their year's worth in as quickly as possible before they were stopped.
I never thought I'd ever agree with YP about anything, but here we are as one. It's the expansion of B & Q, et al, and all its huge packs of peat that's causing the problems.
Think I'll let YP respond to the first part of your comment, Cro! ;) (tiptoes away to a safe corner...)
I couldn't agree more! Flighty xx
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