Mr. Jason Fleming:

We are all here trying to bring a bit of confidence back into the sector. We are trying to get farmers planting, which is the bottom line. As we stated, the Minister and the Department should support farmers planting. Where is this €1.3 billion for farmers? There is not much point in having €1.3 billion in a fund if we cannot access it. The Minister said to plant the right tree in the right place. At the moment there is no tree going any place, and that is the bottom line. As we all know, this matter has not even been sent to Europe yet and it could take between two and eight months for it to come back. If one goes by the Department’s dashboards, no tree has been set in this country in the past three weeks.

I wish to cover some of the question on ash dieback that the Senator asked. I am aware that Ms O’Sullivan covered it earlier. The reconstitution and underplanting scheme, RUS, has been in place since 2020 but it is not fit for purpose. It is not even covering the ground work when it comes to the digging and replanting. Farmers need a 20-year premium on top of the RUS for the replanting. It is as simple as that.

I want to cover the roadside trees affected by the ash dieback and we have a member of the committee who is on a main road but it costs between €700 and €1,000 to take down one ash dieback tree.