The financial accounts for Harte Peat Ltd in recent years all stress the same risk for one of the country’s top peat extractors and processors – “the controversial conditions surrounding the peat industry”. It is not surprising as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), long seen as a watchdog with no bite, had started to bare its teeth to the midlands industry long operating outside of the regulatory system. Commercial operators active on over 50 hectares — equal to almost 40 Croke Park pitches — need a licence from the watchdog to operate lawfully. Below this threshold, activity falls under the…

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