Bord na Móna has confirmed that after an unprecedented fall in commercial revenues and a collapse in their horticultural sales, the company is to lay off 230 employees.
The company said the workers affected would include management, permanent and seasonal employees.
It said that all of those impacted will continue to receive 100% of basic pay while the company avails of the wage subsidy scheme introduced during the Covid-19 emergency.
The decision has been criticised by the Bord na Móna group of unions, which said the decision would hit the wages of workers heavily and was not necessary as a decision on the summer harvest is expected in the next three weeks.
Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway Michael Fitzmaurice has said it is "ironic" that the Government is "promoting a scheme to save the country from the impact of Covid-19, and yet a semi-state company like Bord na Móna is letting workers go and avail of the Covid-19 payment".
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Mr Fitzmaurice said Bord na Móna workers were told that their jobs would go at the end of 2020.
"Now that they have ten months left and are being told to go and get Covid payment. They don't hold on to workers in those circumstances," he said.
Mr Fitzmaurice said that this is the time of the year when seasonal workers, some of which are small farmers, "could make money by working long hours on the bog, but now they are at home for the foreseeable future".
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Meanwhile, the ESB has reiterated that both peat power stations at Shannonbridge in west Offaly and Lanesboro on Lough Ree will remain open until the end of the year.
Last November it announced that it will close both plants which currently burn two million tonnes of peat per year supplied by Bord na Móna.
