[1] Towards the end of his life he served as president of the Irish Turf Cutters and Contractors Association.
This followed the emergence of a threat to turf-cutting when the European Union's Habitats Directive was transposed into Irish law in 1997, and gave protection to raised bogs.
[3] When the derogation expired, it was reported that a ban on turf-cutting would apply to more than thirty Special Areas of Conservation with effect from 2009.
[5] In a mirror of the derogation granted for continued domestic cutting on SAC raised bogs, a similar de facto 10 year derogation operated in respect of the 75 raised bogs designated for protection in 2004 under the Wildlife Acts.
The ban would eventually apply to a total of 139 raised bogs which have been designated for protection in 53 Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) under the Habitats Directive and 75 Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs) under the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000.