Mr. Simon White:

I might add to that. There is no doubt that trees that are affected are going to die. Some 95% of ash trees in the country are going to die. We are in a salvage operation. The trees that are affected are not going to grow anymore, so they are not going to get to saw-log stage, and they will not end up as hurleys, if they are small trees which are at that stage. There is a very limited period in which they will remain sound timber. All they are at the moment is firewood, and the value of firewood will rocket downwards with oversupply because there will be so much ash being cut down. What I am trying to say is that once it comes in, the disease cannot be stopped. The disease is moving right across the countryside. There may be some areas that have not yet been affected, but they are going to get it. Until this year, we did not have much of it in our area, but now it is rampant throughout the forests. It has stopped the growth and the trees are dying.

The Senator also asked about engagement. We were invited, at various times, to meet with the forest service when it was designing this scheme. We said at that stage, from our experience as growers on the ground, that these measures were not going to help the situation. It took seven years for the measures to be rolled out from when the original scheme ended. There is no compensation involved; the only chance that anybody has out of this scheme is that they will get a chance to replant. They will be going back to square one. I planted 20 years ago and Mr. O'Connell planted 25 years ago. We are not deemed to be eligible for the scheme. Our trees are too big and too old, and we represent many people who are in the same boat. The best that anyone with a plantation can get is to go back and plant from square one again. When we did it 20 years ago, we got premiums for it. We do not get premiums now and are not eligible for them. We have been asked to do it again at this late stage in our lives. We planted a generation ago and we have been asked to go back to square one again. It is very unfair.