Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I start by thanking Deputy Cahill not only for raising this point in the House but also for his ongoing work as Chair of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and that of his committee members, in advocating on behalf of those farmers impacted. I concur with him on the impact it has on the broader forestry sector.

I offer the apologies of the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett, who could not be here and asked me to deliver this response on her behalf. I understand completely the stress and the frustration this has caused the people affected. Up there with the loss of an animal for a livestock farmer, crop failure is probably the worst other thing that can happen to a farmer. When it happens on rare occasions, it tends to be an annual crop that is gone the following year and farmers can get over it. However, to have stood in farmers' land and looked out at crops of ash that have been dying for years and are effectively dead, is soul-destroying. It affects farmers' mental health as well as financially. It has a really significant impact. I completely concur with the sentiment that the Deputy has outlined in terms of how big an issue this is for those who are affected.

As we know, it is a disease which has caused an irreversible effect on plantations throughout the country and we have been dealing with the impact since it was first discovered in Ireland in late 2012. In fact, a number of reconstitution schemes to deal with the issue have been initiated by the Department in order to help those landowners with failing ash dieback plantations. In March 2013, the Department introduced the reconstitution scheme for chalara ash dieback, to restore forests planted under the afforestation scheme which had suffered from or were associated with plants affected by the disease.

Following a review of the national response to ash dieback disease arising from scientific advice and evidence that eradication of ash dieback disease was no longer feasible, the reconstitution and underplanting scheme for ash dieback was launched in June 2020. In March of this year, the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, introduced an interim reconstitution scheme for ash dieback via general de minimis, which contains a doubling of site clearance rates, increased grant rates and an improved premium regime. The purpose of the scheme is to clear all ash trees and replant with other species. Under the new programme, a reconstitution scheme for ash dieback was launched. This is the same as the interim scheme and includes a 100% increase in the site clearance grant rate, from €1,000 to €2,000, and enhanced grant rates for new forest types as per the new forestry programme for 2023 to 2027. Those applicants whose sites are still in premium will continue to receive the premium due for the remaining years. There are premiums outstanding on 7,000 ha of grant-aided ash. In addition, for those in receipt of the farmer rate of premium, a top-up premium equal to the difference between the equivalent forestry type and the existing premium will be paid. This will be calculated for the remaining years left in premium and paid in a single sum.

To date, a total of €10 million has been expended on these reconstitution schemes, involving payments on approximately 2,400 ha. Aid has been applied for in respect of approximately 6,500 ha of the 15,897 ha of ash under the various reconstitution schemes to date.

The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, established an independent review of the Department’s ash dieback support scheme in June 2023 to review the existing and previous supports available to landowners with ash plantations funded under the national forestry programme that are now infected with Chalara. The review group recently presented its report to the Minister of State. Its findings are now being considered and assessed in accordance with the regulatory and legal framework. The Department must operate any schemes of financial aid in accordance with state aid regulations, the Forestry Acts and the public expenditure codes. Any forest owner who made an application to the 2020 reconstitution and underplanting scheme or the more recently opened new ash dieback scheme will not be disadvantaged if any changes are made as a result of the independent review process.

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