Paddy Concannon is President of the Irish Turf Cutters and Contractors Association. He was born in County Galway in 1918.
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In 2008, the Turf Cutters Association amalgamated with the Contractors Association to form the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association. Since then Concannon has led opposition to a ban on non-commercial turf cutting of raised bogs.[1] This followed the expiry of a ten-year derogation which had delayed the full protection of Irish raised bogs under the EU Habitats Directive.[2] The derogation had been granted to help domestic turf-cutters when the Habitats Directive was transposed into Irish law in 1997.
It was initially reported that the ban was would apply to thirty-two Special Areas of Conservation with effect from 2009,[2][3] although later reports refer to a figure of thirty-one raised bog SACs where turf-cutting would not be possible for environmental reasons.[4] A further twenty-one SACs were due to be protected by the end of 2011, and seventy-five Natural Heritage Areas by the end of 2013.
Concannon has stated that he will do everything he can to overturn the ban. "We will help and assist everyone who wishes to cut turf on the bogs affected," he said. "I have been cutting turf for more than 80 years and I have a great respect for the land. I'm prepared to go to prison if it comes to that."