1944 – “There Is Nothing More Important Than Cutting Turf”

Midland Tribune, 25 March 1944

March 1944 and the Turf Board is indulging in a bit of overstatement. Behind the hyperbole, however, there was, indeed, a real problem: Ireland was drastically short of fuel for domestic heating and cooking. The merchant ships that imported coal had been targeted by the Axis forces and increased demand in Britain meant that Ireland had to look for alternatives. So it became a case of “All hands to the sléan” and the North Tipperary County Council took up the responsibility of ensuring that the County’s bogs were exploited to the full in this, a most pressing time of need.