Mr. Simon White:

Dr. Ian Short in Teagasc did quite a lot of research as regards looking at different species back in the early days but when the RUS was brought in, those alternatives were ruled out. There was only one method of dealing with it, which was clear-fell. The whole focus on alternatives was lost and that research needs to be done.

The main focus has been on producing an immune ash tree but when you look at it, it is only now, 40 years after Dutch elm disease, that they are beginning to develop. I am a research scientist so I know it takes an awfully long time to do this. To come up with an alternative to ash is not going to happen for many years to come. To deal with the situation at the moment, we must look at it logically. It is something that is causing people to look at this. Anybody involved in forestry is looking at how the pioneers have been treated as regards whether they will go into it themselves. It is massively important to deal with the issue if we want to be serious about going forward with forestry planting in this country.

In a week in which we have seen large amounts of money go towards compensating people in agriculture and those with mica and such, it is very hard on the members we represent. Remember, we are a small community in counties Limerick and Tipperary of people growing trees but we have been identified as the body that is the mouthpiece for people with ash dieback. People are contacting us from all over the country and pulling their hair out. I am sick and tired of the job because I have no answers for them. We have lobbied repeatedly on their behalf and we have nothing to say to them. It is awful to have to go back to them every time. They contact us weekly to ask what is happening and whether there has been any move on this. We have to say "No" and that we are lobbying and trying and doing everything. It is soul destroying to do this when one sees other sectors being looked after. If the price of fertiliser goes up, something is done for people. If the price of pigs goes down, there is something done for people. People with forestry are just left out in the dark. We are ignored. There is a huge amount of frustration. Mr. O'Connell talked earlier about mental health. People who are really up against it break under these circumstances. They invested heavily in this in terms of work, ethics and what they put into it and now they have nothing. Something has to be done but it must be done now. We cannot keep waiting. It must be done now. Members will know that on a farm, and I know it from being a dairy farmer at one time, that if you have a downer cow or a sick animal, you will put your all into dealing with that animal. There is nothing like the pall of a sick animal on the farm. Everybody is affected until that animal is either cured or otherwise taken away by the knackery. Then, there is some relief. People in forestry whose trees are dying are in that sort of situation, so please help them.