Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, will be very familiar with the issue of ash dieback. I appreciate the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, are not present but I know the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, will convey to both of them the points I am about to make. It is important that I get the opportunity to bring this issue up on the floor of the Dáil Chamber.

Decades ago, a previous Government incentivised, encouraged and promoted the planting of ash throughout our island. It encouraged families and individuals to invest in their future so they would something they could rely on as they got older, or perhaps it was that future generations of their family could rely on the monetary rewards they would generate when they eventually felled the ash and it was processed. They were told to do it for their future but they were also told to do it for Irish culture. It was said that this was an important part of our heritage going back to the days of Cú Chulainn and in terms of promoting our national sport of hurling and camogie, and that this would be a vital part of that.

They were told to invest, and there were posters and campaigns to invest in their future. In good faith, people around Ireland invested, be it landowners, farmers, individuals or families. They planted and they got a premium. However, through no fault of their own and with no responsibility on them, ash dieback arrived from the Netherlands, Denmark and potentially the eastern part of Europe. Ash dieback has ripped through our native ash and through some of the most beautiful, natural parts of Ireland, as we can see on the roadsides. It has also ripped through the investments that these individuals and families made. It has not just ripped through the plantations but has ripped through their families and, in many cases, it has ripped through their own mental health because of the impact it has had.

As a State, we have not gone far enough to compensate or to address the issue, and we need to change that. For example, I know of a man who went about clearing and replanting the area of ash he had planted as his future investment. The subsidy and support he was getting from the State was €6,000 and the cost was €16,000, so for this investment that he was encouraged and asked to make, and which he was told to do for his future and for our culture, he is making a massive loss.

The current proposed reconstruction and replanting scheme is not fit for purpose. It provides €1,000 per hectare replanted, which will not go anywhere near far enough. The groups that represent individual landowners and foresters are asking for something more substantial. They are asking for help. They are asking for €7,000 per hectare. At the very least, we need to give them approximately €4,000 per hectare to help them survive and to reward them for believing in the messages they were given by the State and the Government to plant for their future.

I am asking that this be looked at and that the proposed reconstitution and underplanting scheme be redesigned so it is fit for purpose and allows us to replant these areas in order to sequester carbon and help our environment, which is one of the most important issues of all.

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