Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I think I have them all now. Regarding ash dieback, there are state aid constraints. There seems to be a bit of a challenge because we have different state aid rules for different sectors. Livestock state aid rules for supports and compensation are different from the ones for crops and forestry. We will absolutely fully explore what is possible within those forestry state aid rules and we are actively doing that. We will do everything we can to find the mechanism within that to enable us to support farmers.

On the premium payments, it is 33% more by time and money for farmers rather than non-farmers. I think in the previous programme it was 15 years for everyone and we did not differentiate between farmers and non-farmers. I do not know whether there was any difference in payment rates and whether there were higher payments for farmers but both were 15 years – same time. Perhaps there was a slightly different approach taken then.

The best land for farmers to plant trees on is their own land. That is where they will get the best bang for their buck.