Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is with regret that I have to stand here again and talk about ash dieback. I have spoken numerous times in this Chamber and in the committee room about the terrible financial consequences that ash dieback has brought on farmers. It is over ten years since ash dieback was discovered in this country and for the 16,000 hectares of land that attracted grant aid, unfortunately those farmers now have rubble instead of a profitable crop to harvest. I have been representing farmers for many years and I have never seen a case where a disease that was outside of farmers' control happened on farms, for which there was no compensation.

Whoever is to blame for ash dieback, it most definitely is not the farmer. We are promised another report on ash dieback in the next couple of weeks. What the men and women who own this land want is compensation. These people planted these ash trees, with the prospect of getting a serious financial return out of this crop. It is a crop that is known to be extremely profitable and it was planted in most cases on land that would not normally be afforested.

Our afforestation programme at the moment is in tatters. We have 8,000 hectares per year of a target in the programme for Government. In the lifetime of this Government, we will not plant 8,000 hectares, never mind per annum. The lack of confidence the ash dieback has caused in the forestry sector is one of the major factors why we are not meeting our targets in afforestation. The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which I chair, and I, have put forward a report on forestry strategy where we have strongly recommended that if people replant their ash trees with whatever crop they want to put into the land, hopefully a profitable timber crop, they would access a premium for the next 20 years. While this would not compensate them for the huge financial loss they have suffered, at least they would have an income coming in for the next 20 years out of that afforestation and it would go some way to relieving the hardship they have suffered. They would have 20 years for the farmers to pay it back so the financial pressure on the Exchequer would be minimal. We have a moral responsibility to do this for these farmers. The boost it would give the forestry sector as well should not be underestimated. We would have 16,000 hectares that would be replanted within the next 12 to 18 months and that would have a huge impact on the private forestry sector, which is greatly in need of a boost. Contractors, nurseries, etc, with the lack of afforestation, are under real financial pressure.

As we get close to budget day, I urge the Minister to make sure there is an allocation in this year's budget to address ash dieback once and for all. This is something I feel we cannot walk away from. As chairman of the Oireachtas committee, we have made various recommendations to the Minister of this issue. Now is the time for action. These people have waited long enough. Let us give them compensation.

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