The Irish Forest Owners (IFO) said that forest owners with plantations destroyed by ash dieback are “outraged” by the rejection of compensation by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
According to Nicholas Sweetman, chairperson of IF0, the association is calling on the government to “allow all forest owners with ash plantations to avail of the full afforestation premiums upon replanting”, along with a compensation package.
Sweetman said: “The Minister has been consistent in not recognising that the forestry industry is in crisis.
“The appalling treatment of farmers who are affected by ash dieback has been one of the most critical causes of the
current lack of interest in planting among farmers.
“If this country is to meet its climate change commitments, the Minister should be searching for ways to restore confidence in the sector rather than pulling the rug from under farmers who have seen their investment in forestry wiped out through no fault of their own.”
Derek McCabe, forest owner and chair of the North East Forestry Group, said that “replacing trees with saplings is not restoration”.
McCabe added: “I’m now back to day one. My trees have been growing for more than 20 years and it’ll be another 20 years before my forest is restored to where it was before the disease struck.
“Until then, I cannot make an income from that land, but I will still have to invest time and money on vegetation control, pruning the new trees and general upkeep.”
The IFO has warned that Minister McConalogue needs to find a method to properly compensate forest owners “whose now worthless plantations have been destroyed” by ash dieback.
Ash dieback costs
Holly Cairns, Social Democrats leader and Cork South West TD has also called on the government to assist farmers and landowners with the costs of the removal and assessing trees affected by ash dieback.
Deputy Cairns said: “Last week, I raised this matter with Forestry Minister Pippa Hackett and echoed calls from the IFA [Irish Farmers’ Association] and others for a financial support scheme to assist farmers in managing this issue.
“The minister expressed a willingness to look into the issue, but farmers and landowners need support now.
“They are legally and financially responsible for what is a public safety matter and expect the government to step up.”
Deputy Cairns has also raised issues with government schemes to date, which she says “have not been adequate to deal with the challenges farmers are facing on the ground”.
“Even improvements to the interim reconstitution scheme for ash dieback do not cover the full costs associated with clearing and replanting affected sites or compensate for the loss of timber earnings,” said Deputy Cairns.