Irish Climate

One of the fundamental elements of the Irish geography is also at the forefront of climate change concerns: the bogs.

Throughout the past 8,000 years or so, peat bogs have been both a bane and a blessing, as are so many of the characteristic features of the Irish experience. On one hand, swallowing unwary travelers…on the other, bringing them warmth and wood.

87% of this peatland has been lost from the mid-1600s to the mid-1900s; in fact, the vast majority has been exploited beyond recovery in the past half-century. Much of the blame goes to Bord na Móna, whose injudicious large-scale peat harvesting has not only robbed the land but allowed the Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais (Electricity Supply Board) to do more than their share to contribute to the current climate crisis.

Peat is one of the few fuel sources worse than dirty coal (as you may know, peat is a very early stage of coal development). However, it is not the environmental concerns which are closing down the peat plants, but the fact that the bogs are nearly spent; one may only surmise how long Bord na Móna would continue with greater natural resources to exploit.