State urged to seek EU aid for ash dieback

The Government has been urged to avail of supports on offer from Europe to tackle the ongoing ash dieback crisis.

At the end of last year the Department of Agriculture confirmed that 22 cases of the disease had been identified in 10 counties and that it was to begin a “major eradication programme” in which the department would supervise the destruction and re-establishment of affected sites.

It said a re-establishment grant would be made available to the owners of private plantations which are part of the department’s current afforestation programme, and that ash plants from the infected batches supplied to other sites will also be destroyed.