Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 25 October 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's Response to Ash Dieback: Limerick and Tipperary Woodland Owners

Mr. Simon White:

No and I am vice chairman of the IFA forestry committee also. We have not heard anything about it, we have not been consulted. It is extraordinary that everybody in the private forestry representation have recommended this and they are all still waiting for it for this length of time. Where is the urgency? It seems that they are sitting on their hands, and this needs to be dealt with. If we are to wait, the way the forestry service has dealt with things, we will be waiting a long time. That is why there needs to be a cultural change in the direction of the forestry service.