Bernard Durkan
Question:465. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action taken to protect ash forests against dieback; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56244/23]
View answerThursday, 14 December 2023
Questions (465)
Written answers
In response to the Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and the Marine, on ‘Issues Impacting the Forestry Sector in Ireland’ (2021), my Department published a report ‘Origins of Ash Dieback Disease in Ireland, Lessons Learned and Research Update (2022)’. This document is available on my Department’s website.
The report finds that the most likely pathway for the introduction of ash dieback disease into Ireland was through the movement of infected ash plants into Ireland from another EU Member State.
There are no formal border controls or inspections on goods (including plants and plant products) moving within the EU under the rules and principles of the EU Single Market /Internal Market. Compliance with movement requirements to other Member States are essentially the responsibility of the EU country of origin.
Under the then governing EU Plant Health Directive (Council Directive 2000/29/EC) (replaced by the new EU Plant Regulation in December 2019), only certain plants and plant products were regulated. Ash trees moving within the EU were not regulated and could freely move throughout the EU.
While many tree species were not regulated under the outgoing Council Directive, all plants under the new enhanced EU Plant Health Regulation (2016/2031), require a Plant Passport when moved within the EU between ‘Professional Operators’.
Ash dieback disease is a wind-borne disease and airborne transmission from continental Europe has been attributed to its introduction into the southeast of Great Britain and to rapid spread throughout the natural range of ash in Europe. Airborne transmission has similarly resulted in its rapid spread throughout the island of Ireland, where the disease is now widespread.
It is not known when the disease first arrived on the island of Ireland. The first detections of the disease were made in 2012 in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. In the same year it was also first detected in Great Britain. My Department initiated actions to eradicate the disease by clearing infected sites and trees that were infected. There is currently a scheme in place for landowners to clear their ash plantations and replace with another species. The first such scheme, introduced to slow the spread of the disease and replace infected ash crops with another species of tree was put in place in 2013.