Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. White. As he has acknowledged in his statement, this committee has fully recognised the issues of ask dieback, and I have had a lot of engagement with the LTWO and other growers. I am personally very disappointed that we, as a committee, have not made more progress in this area. I can assure the witnesses that we will not let go of this issue as testified to by that fact that we have the LTWO delegation before us again today.

Growers have lost as much as 25 years' worth of growth. Many people grew ash and usually it is grown on better land. Many people used to think that the revenue generated from growing ash would be their pension pot but now that has disappeared. The idea of replanting ash and waiting 70 or 80 years for another income to be generated means there will be no return from the land for three generations. Unequivocally, the growers are not at fault and are completely innocent. We, as a committee, must do as much as we possibly can to get a legitimate and reasonable solution for the growers. This committee issued a report a number of months ago and made recommendations. We intend to keep applying pressure on the Minister to implement our recommendations.