GAA Ash Society defending €10m hurley industry

Ray Ryan looks at efforts to fend off Ash dieback disease to protect a hurley-making industry worth around €10m to the Irish economy.

Last month’s harvesting of hurley butts by Teagasc in Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford, put a renewed focus on the threat of the ash dieback disease in forest plantations.

It was first confirmed here in October 2012, in a Co Leitrim site, planted in 2012 with trees imported from continental Europe where the disease had spread.