€79.5m ash dieback package for farmers approved
It is over a decade since the first case of ash dieback was detected in Co Leitrim.
A €79.5m ash dieback disease package for farmers has been approved.
A Climate Action Performance Payment of €5,000 per hectare for participants in reconstitution schemes will be made, it has been announced.
This payment will be made available to all ash forest owners who have or will fully engage with the Department of Agriculture's ash dieback schemes, to clear sites and carry out replanting.
This payment is part of an Ash Dieback Action Plan, which was on Tuesday approved by Cabinet.
Speaking following the Cabinet meeting, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity Pippa Hackett said she sought to "bring forward an action plan that would address both the concerns of farmers and landowners impacted by ash dieback, and the recommendations of the independent review group I commissioned last year".
"I believe this plan delivers on both of those fronts and I am particularly pleased to be in a position to put in place an additional €79.5m of funding that will allow us to pay a new Climate Action Performance Payment of €5,000 per hectare."
There are a number of other elements to the financial support for farmers whose plantations are affected by ash dieback, namely:
- 100% increase in the site clearance grant rate from €1,000 to €2,000 under the new Forestry Programme compared to the previous reconstitution scheme;
- Enhanced replanting grant rates under the new Forestry Programme, in accordance with the chosen forest type;
- Those applicants whose sites are still in premium will continue to receive the premium due for the remaining years. They will also receive a once-off top-up payment equivalent to the difference between the existing premium and the associated new forest type premium under the new programme.
The Department of Agriculture has said that the overall package being made available to ash plantation owners will be in excess of €230m.
Minister Hackett said that the department has now published the Action Plan and that "it will immediately progress the work required to implement the actions".
"My department will now put the necessary arrangements in place to follow through on the actions as outlined. Indeed, much of this work is already underway.
"I am also establishing a sub-group of the recently convened Forest Strategy Consultative Committee, which is comprised of all of the relevant stakeholders, to facilitate a co-ordinated response and a swift implementation of the Ash Dieback Action Plan. This taskforce, which addresses another of the key recommendations of the review group, will meet in the coming weeks.”
There were 15,897 hectares of grant-aided ash planted between 1990 and 2013.
Fianna Fáil TD and chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine Jackie Cahill said that the €5,000 per hectare payment, in addition to the grants for clearing and replanting already in place, will be of "financial benefit to these plantation owners".
"Obviously it doesn’t compensate for the huge loss of income, but it’s a substantial increase for those affected and farmers who have already availed of previous ash dieback schemes will qualify for this payment," he added.
Irish Farmers' Association farm forestry chairman Jason Fleming said there is a very mixed reaction amongst farmers to the announcement.
“Let’s be clear: this payment in no way compensates farmers for the financial loss incurred or the emotional toll the disease has taken on them and their families. But it is the first time within the scheme that a farmer’s financial loss is recognised,” Mr Fleming said.
"Many farmers were relying on the income from these forests for their pensions and this payment is only a drop in the ocean, while for others the payment will provide some financial relief.
“Farmers remain concerned that the clearance grant of €2,000 per hectare and afforestation grants are not sufficient to cover the costs of re-establishing some of these forests, particularly older ones, and these costs will eat into farmers’ payment.”
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