'Moral duty' on government to help foresters devastated by ash dieback losses

Experts say ash dieback is likely to cause the death of most ash trees in Ireland over the next two decades

A straight twenty-five-year-old ash tree used for the making of hurleys in an ash plantation in County Limerick that has ash dieback. Picture: Dan Linehan

There is a moral obligation on legislators to help forestry owners meet huge financial losses after ash dieback disease wiped out their plantations, it was claimed during a Senate debate.

Ash dieback, which originated in Asia and was brought to Europe in the early 1990s, was first detected here in 2012 on imported plants. Now prevalent across the island of Ireland, experts say it is likely to cause the death of most ash trees here over the next two decades.

The call to further support plantation owners was made by Jackie Cahill, TD, chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He was speaking in the Senate when it considered a report by the committee on issues impacting the forestry sector.

Deputy Cahill said he was extremely disappointed a reasonable financial package had not been put in place for the plantation owners.

“If this were an outbreak of TB, foot and mouth, swine fever or whatever, there would be financial compensation for the farmers involved. A very valuable crop has been lost by a significant number of forestry plantation owners.

“Grants have been provided to help them to attempt to replant the land, and I fully acknowledge that aspect, but no attempt has been made to nullify some of the great financial losses suffered,” he said.

Deputy Cahill said owners should firstly get a grant to clear their plantations. While there is a scheme in place, farmers are not at all happy with it. They should also be given a choice if they want to replant. A 20-year premium scheme should be made available to those farmers again.

While it would not fully compensate them for the huge financial loss they suffered, it would give the industry some confidence that fair play was happening, he said.

Senator Paul Daly said the committee’s report recommends a quarterly report on the reconstitution and underplanting scheme, RUS, and how it is progressing.

“We believe the scheme needs to be examined. It is not effective and there needs to be more compensation for those who have lost their plantations through ash dieback,” he said.

Senator Tim Lombard said persuading the massive cohort of people affected by ash dieback to get involved so that the land can be cleared, and more trees planted in a short period, is a real challenge.

“Ash dieback came in because of our lack of biosecurity measures. There is fear because we have a shortage of timber that our biosecurity measures are not appropriate when we are importing a large amount of timber.

“We are worried about things like the spruce bark beetle coming in from the UK. If that was to land on our shores it would have the potential for similar damage to that caused by ash dieback,” he said.

Senator Seán Kyne said the impact of ash dieback is visible in the beautiful trees across the countryside.

“We now see many of them ‘raggledy’ and in some cases dying,” he said, noting that Teagasc and the Department are doing research work on providing more resilient ash trees, which would be very important.

Minister of State Pippa Hackett said she will shortly submit a written report to the committee concerning ash dieback in Ireland and the lessons learned.

“I note that the committee supports research on the development of varieties of ash trees that will be resistant to this disease.

“Research is ongoing in this area through Teagasc,” she said, pointing out that the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine has funded such research initiatives.

Minister Hackett said €7.6 million has been spent on the two ash dieback schemes since 2013. The most recent one was set up in June 2020. It followed an extensive review of the previous scheme.

“Under this new programme, we have received 520 new applications, representing more than 2,200ha, under RUS.

“This year, we have committed to refocusing on approvals under that scheme. It has been outlined in our licensing plan for 2022 as well.

The question of the grants paid under RUS is always a concern. The grants currently cover the full costs of clearing sites and replanting them with an alternative species,” she said.