Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome my constituency colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, to the House. Perhaps he might tell us whether something wrong with John O'Dwyer's hurley caused the ball to go right of the post by two inches last year. Was it affected by ash dieback? The Minister of State might comment on that when he is bringing the debate to a conclusion.

On a more serious note, I commend the Minister of State and all his staff on all the work that is being done. In July of last year, when I raised this matter on the Adjournment, there was a great deal of panic about this issue because ash dieback was springing up all over the country and we did not know whether we could control it. There were fears for the future of the game of hurling. I accept that ash is used to make many other items, including furniture. A massive number of people - approximately 350 - are directly employed in the hurley-making industry. As others have said, more than 350,000 hurleys are made in this country each year. Strangely enough, we did not take much notice of where this timber came from until ash dieback appeared. We import 80% of the timber. Just 20% of it is produced in this country.

I am very pleased with the work of the Minister of State and with the approach the Department has taken. As a Tipperary man, I am proud that the Minister of State has led the way since he came into the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We need to tackle this head-on. I want to raise a couple of issues that need to be addressed. Perhaps the Minister of State can debate and discuss them. There are concerns about the policy of burying the trees rather than disposing of them by burning them. I would like the Minister of State to comment on the suggestion that it is possible for the spores to regenerate themselves and spread as a result of that.

Concern has been expressed about the decision to take ash out of all grant assistance supports, including the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme and the schemes involving the replanting of land and the planting of land for the first time. Such planting is being encouraged by the Minister of State. I commend him on the most recent initiative he introduced in recent months, which involves the planting of land. There are now some very good financial incentives for farmers to get involved. Ash would be ideal for land that would not be suitable for other agricultural purposes. However, we are not replanting ash and not providing grant assistance. Incidentally, the replenishment scheme does not allow for ash to go back in. A different species has to go in. While I welcome the provision of money and grant assistance to take out ash and deal with this issue, I note that ash cannot be put back in. I am concerned about the stocks for the future. The Minister of State might comment on how we are going to deal with that.

While I welcome the research that is going on, I wonder whether we should be doing much more of it on home soil. We are giving financial and other support to projects in England and elsewhere in the UK that are trying to deal with this problem. Perhaps we should consider dealing with it by building up resistance in plants in Ireland as opposed to supporting the concept in England. Will the Minister of State comment on that? Perhaps there is more expertise available in the UK - I do not know. I would like an answer in this regard.

The excellent co-operation with Northern Ireland has been alluded to.The smartphone app launched recently by the Minister of State and the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the North, Ms Michelle O'Neill, is a fantastic idea. Senator Whelan and I were talking about it yesterday because ash trees planted in our areas have not come into leaf yet. I was able to show the Senator a photograph of a diseased tree depicting exactly what is involved. Everybody is interested in this matter not only because of the hurley, but also because we do not want to see the disease spreading across the country. As Senator Comiskey said, it is brilliant that one can take a photograph and send it off so any problem can be dealt with immediately.

Perhaps the Minister of State will comment on the company in Cork, Treemetrics, that claims it can identify the disease by way of satellite imagery and thus help to eliminate it. This was raised in the national media recently by a colleague of the Minister of State, Mr. Seán Kelly, MEP and former president of the GAA. He felt the company has a lot to offer. Has the Department taken up its offer? What are the Minister of State's views on the company's concept? Everything we can do to reduce the incidence of the disease should be done. If this technology can be employed, we should use it.

I am very much encouraged by the figures the Minister of State has outlined. If the current trend continues, there will have been in the order of only 25 cases in 2015, based on six in the first four months, as opposed to 120 in 2012, when the disease was first identified. This is an excellent outcome. I have no doubt it is as a result of the work done by the Department, led by the Minister of State. It is important that we keep on top of this and ensure that when we develop a resistant species, we provide grant incentives to address the issue of the 2 million trees that have been taken out. That is a massive number of hurleys. A mature tree provides in the order of six to eight hurleys, as the Minister of State knows. If 2 million trees are taken out, we must make provision to replant them when we have the disease under control. As a fellow Tipperaryman, I say well done to the Minister of State and ask him to get us a few good hurleys for Tipperary this year if he can.