Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The point I am making is that it started in Asia, it was widespread all over Europe in the 1990s and was first found in Ireland in 2012, very close to a Coillte forest. We are bringing in millions of whitethorn trees as part of ACRES and hedgerows, which is obviously a good thing, but I am very concerned about the importation of this. Have we learned anything? My understanding is that the Department has not found a conclusive answer as to what happened. Is this to protect certain State agencies? What have we learned if we are turning around and doing the very same thing as regards whitethorn?