Claire Kerrane
Ceist:56. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the awaited strategy to address ash dieback will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18246/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 25 April 2024
Ceisteanna (56)
Freagraí ó Béal (10 píosaí cainte)
When will the Minister publish the action plan and strategy for ash dieback? It is now seven months since the independent review was published. Farmers affected by ash dieback in particular, of whom I have met many, are on their knees. I have never met a group of farmers so down, depressed and worried, yet the action plan is nowhere to be seen. Every reply I get states that it will be in the near future. Farmers cannot wait. Will the Minister please give us an update on when we will see that action plan?
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)
I thank Deputy Kerrane for the question. Since the first finding of ash dieback in Ireland in 2012, my Department has introduced reconstitution schemes to restore forests planted under the afforestation scheme which had suffered from or which were associated with plants affected by disease. A total of €10 million has been expended to date on these schemes, which includes a grant for site clearance as well as replanting.
In July of last year, my Department launched the latest of these schemes, the reconstitution scheme for ash dieback, under the new Forestry Programme 2023-2027 with enhanced features, including a 100% increase in the site clearance grant rate, enhanced replanting grant rates under the programme, and, for those in receipt of farmer rate of premium, a single top-up premium equal to the difference between the equivalent forestry type and the existing premium will be paid for the remaining years left in premium.
Also last year, I tasked an independent group to review existing Department supports for ash dieback. The group's remit was to review the existing and previous supports available to landowners with ash forests, as funded under the national forestry programme, and to engage with relevant stakeholders to seek their views on the current supports for ash forest owners. The group presented its report in September with 13 recommendations covering a diverse range of issues. In response to this report, I will be bringing a detailed ash dieback action plan to Cabinet for approval in the very near future. This will outline comprehensive actions by my Department to deal with the issue of ash dieback. Detailed deliberations are currently taking place to ensure an efficient, appropriate and proportionate response. Further, a subgroup of the forestry strategy consultative committee has been established and will meet shortly to address ash. This group will work as a task force to ensure a greater level of engagement and action on ash dieback and other forest health matters.
My Department continues to issue approvals under the reconstitution scheme. Reconstitution scheme approvals have issued for around 2,000 ha in the past six months and applications for a further 1,500 ha are currently being processed, demonstrating increased demand for this scheme.
It really is not good enough to keep using the phrase "the very near future". I have been getting that in replies for months. It has been seven months. I met with farmers in Galway a number of weeks ago. I met some in Wexford two weeks ago. They are broken. They put significant work into the plantations and they are dying. They are being left. It has been years and they are waiting for supports. To say that it will happen in the very near future is just not good enough. Seven months ago, that independent review group told us nothing we did not know already. That wasted months and months. It did its report and fair play to it. Its conclusion was that this is an emergency. It is now seven months later and farmers are still waiting. The new forestry programme will not go anywhere if we do not get farmers' buy-in. That is not happening. Confidence in that programme is extremely low.
If we do not solve the issue of ash dieback, I will not blame a single farmer for not looking to join the forestry programme. This is an emergency and we need to know what the Minister of State means when she refers to the very near future.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)
I accept people’s frustration. They have been waiting a long time, but it is important that we get this right. This is not just a decision for me to make in my Department. Rather, it requires engagement across the Government, in particular with the Department of public expenditure.
In the meantime, and as I have stated repeatedly, it is important that the farmers affected by ash dieback who wish to engage with the reconstitution scheme do so now. They need to get that done. It is essential that those trees be cleared before we plant any new ones. We have seen a significant number of farmers engaging with the scheme. They will not be disadvantaged when we finally get agreement on the plan. I assure the House that we are incredibly close, but we have to get it right. I accept people’s frustration and that it has been too long a time, but we are doing everything we can to get this right.
The Minister of State is asking those affected to use the reconstitution scheme, but we all know what the independent review thought about that scheme, namely that it was insufficient. In fact, the review went much further than that in its criticism of the scheme. Why would we ask farmers and others affected to avail of a scheme that, following examination, has been found to be insufficient?
It has been seven months. Farmers and others affected are on their knees. They need support now. Their frustration only grows when they hear a phrase such as “the very near future”. The Minister of State mentioned that detailed deliberations were happening, but when was the last meeting in that regard?
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)
I assure the Deputy that meetings on this issue are happening every day in order to get it over the line and get it right.
The independent review group did good work. The Deputy made some disparaging comments about its work-----
No, I did not.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)
-----and claimed that it had simply told us everything we already knew.
True.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Senator Pippa Hackett)
That was not quite fair. We doubled the clearance rate grant. One of the recommendations was that we increase that.
The reconstitution scheme is the first step towards any support that might be put in place for farmers. They have to go through this step. There is no point in waiting; people will just be further down the list. That is why I have been forceful in encouraging farmers in this regard. The scheme is the first door they must go through, and if they do not, they will have to wait until later to do so. The reconstitution scheme needs to be engaged with because those trees need to be cleared before we can replant on that land.