As wind turbines on the horizon churn out clean energy, John Smyth bends to stack damp peat - the cheap, smokey fuel he has harvested for half a century. The painstaking work of "footing turf," as the ...

Heritage minister Jimmy Deenihan confirmed the lifting of the ban would ensure around 2,500 active turf-cutters were allowed to cut in the affected areas. "Most of our peatlands have been altered by ...