“In flagrant violation of environmental law.” This is the description given of the Irish peat extraction industry by Dr Tom Ryan, the director of the EPA’s enforcement division, on release of a report this summer about the environmental watchdog’s crackdown in the past three years on the industry.  In the report, the agency said that large-scale commercial peat harvesting in Ireland carried out without EPA licensing or planning permission from the local authority is “widespread”. To extract peat lawfully above 50 hectares, companies must have an EPA licence as required under the country’s dual-approval system, which also mandates the need…

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