Bog off!
That was the message the Greens got loud and clear from turfmen of the IRA (Irish Rural Association) over the weekend. The small crowd of 20 to 30 protestors certainly made their presence felt when they picketed outside the Green party’s annual conference at the Radisson hotel in Athlone on Saturday. Eamon Ryan and the delegates were reminded by the IRA that ‘they haven’t gone away you know’ and that the angry turf cutters are still raging over the perceived attack on their turbary rights. Turf selling has been seriously curtailed by this government, with the Greens driving the fight against the fossil fuel. A compromise of sorts was reached where you can still sell your turf to family and friends, but even this has not gone down well in rural Ireland and the Greens are getting the full whack of the blame.
There were a couple of rowdy ones in it, sure you wouldn’t be a decent protest group without a bit of an edge. But the roughest they got was when an IRA man threw a sod of turf at a cameraman sitting in his OB (Outside Broadcast) van. Another angry man was shouting at delegates walking in saying “ye’re more right wing than Fine Gael,” - not sure who would be more insulted by that charge, Fine Gael or the Greens. And then there was the woman with the obligatory megaphone. She was asking Eamon Ryan if he had cycled down from Dublin? I’m guessing the answer was no, it was rotten weather at the weekend. What the two protesters did remind me of is why the Greens have earned the nickname in some circles of being ‘Blueshirts on bikes.’ But it was Eamon who was the main target of their anger with the organisations’ official spokesman, Jackie Flannery, taking aim before firing this missive: “we do not have faith and trust in Minister Ryan or the government that are propping up his mad cap ideas. We accept fully that we have to meet certain criteria for Climate but not in a way that it is shoved down our throats, not in a way that it costs people of the land who know and work with nature best each and every day.”
