Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is great to be able to raise this issue in the House this morning. It is nice to have one of our own Senators, Senator Hackett, here in the role of Minister of State. I know the Minister of State has a keen interest in this area. I studied horticulture in my college days so I take a keen interest in the area. In the middle of a pandemic and with so many problems out there, it is an issue people might not take much heed of. However, as the Minister of State will know, many people are affected by this horrible fungal disease called ash dieback.

Going back to my college days, there was not much talk about ash dieback, but people have become more and more aware of the problems that exist because of it. It was about 2011 or 2012 when it was first established that we had ash dieback in this country. Some of the people I spoke to in the sector tell me we could have lost almost 90% or even 90%-plus of our ash tree population inside ten years.

This disease is a major source of concern in the forestry sector. We have many forestry owners who invested heavily and planted substantial areas of ash. As the Minister of State knows, the reconstitution scheme was suspended in 2018. We have this new scheme up and running now and many people tell me they are not happy with the scheme as it operates.

Many farmers as they got older put some of their land into forestry, particularly into an ash plantation. In many cases, it was to create a little nest egg when they came to pension age. Many of those people were of modest means and it was an investment for later in life. That little nest egg would have given them no major financial concerns as they moved into their later years.They have now been left with what is probably a worthless product. It is useless. It is worth nothing financially.

The individuals affected have a bigger problem, however. They have large sections of land that have been badly affected by the fungal disease. This is a danger because, as the Minister of State knows, mature trees that become infected rot. In many areas with really small plantations, particularly along roadsides, farmers are living in terrible fear that the trees will fall. As people, including the Chairperson will know, a tree growing on one's land is one's responsibility, not that of the local authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland or any other body.

I want an update on the current position regarding this major problem of ash dieback. Is there anything else we can do for the people affected to take them out of the misery they are in? I hope that we can in some way be of assistance to the many thousands of people affected. A person in the industry told me yesterday that up to 20,000 people could be affected. While there are probably 30,000 ha of ash plantation in the country and 20,000 may seem like a very big number, many of the individuals have very small plantations. There is a significant number of people affected.