Mr. Simon White:

I thank the Chairman and committee members for allowing us to present to them today. I thank everybody who has taken part. We have spent years trying to get across our views and the position our members are in. We may be from Tipperary and Limerick, but we are representative of all the ash growers in the country. We are trying to get across that if we are not taken seriously on this issue, tree planting will not happen. As an environmental scientist I can see how important it is. We need to think seriously about forestry. We will face fines for not meeting our commitments. Would it not be much better to spend the money now planting all these trees, using the experience of people like us who know how to do it well and have a decent forestry system in this country because otherwise we will not have an industry and will have all imported trees? Soon one will not need to grow a tree in Ireland.