what we did

- Our first visit to Ireland: 13-10-2019 / 19-10-2019
Sponsored by Rosa Pierson fund

what we want to do next

-  We have plans to go for a second visit in the spring 
to follow the cycle of the peat stings.

How we did it

Report of our visit to Ireland 13-10-2019

The first evening we are welcomed by Timmy Treacy, a respected widower in his 80s. Timmy has told us a lot about their peat traditions and introduced us to people from Feakle. (photo 3)

We have been to many people and talked about how they see the future when it comes to firing peat. Opinions were rather divided on this, some people think that it will be over soon as a result of EU regulations, but others think that it will run wild, also because there is actually no good alternative. Electricity is too expensive, just like gas bottles and oil. At present, the EU has determined that private peat stabbing is permitted, while large-scale peat extraction for power plants and the pressing of briquettes is being phased out and banned.
People have also been offered an amount of money by the government if they close their bog, which is also monitored by officials.

Conclusion: there is much talk about it, but in the end it is still largely the same as it has been for centuries, the cycle of stabbing, drying, hauling in and burning is a guideline in life for the Irish. It is also an art, if you do not dry the peat evenly, it will warp and it will be difficult for you to stack. There are  major differences in stacking, one carelessly throws everything together while the other carefully stacks the pieces.

We made sound recordings of the 50 years anniversary of the thursday night traditional music sessions in Shortt’s, Feakle.  With among others the grandson of Timmy Treacy  and musician Michael Grogan singing.

It was a wonderful and fruitful week in which we met many people and were able to see many of the Irish traditions.