Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) with responsibility for forestry, Pippa Hackett has said the “vast majority” of ash dieback owners is “very happy” with the reconstitution scheme in place.
Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture, Deputy Claire Kerrane raised the issue of ash dieback with Minister Hackett after hearing from the Limerick and Tipperary Woodland Owners Ltd. (LTWO) during an Oireachtas committee meeting.
LTWO chair Simon White told the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, of which Deputy Kerrane is a member, on Wednesday (June 12), that the “scheme was designed without discussion with stakeholders”.
In response to Deputy Kerrane, Minister Hackett said “engagement has been extensive, not just through the independent review group” which reviewed existing and previous supports for landowners affected by ash dieback.
“While I know there are several, I will call disgruntled people, the vast, vast majority of ash dieback owners are very happy with the [reconstitution of ash dieback] scheme.
“Some thought they’d never see any scheme that was going to support them at all. There is a widespread acceptance of the scheme and widespread engagement with it too,” Minister Hackett told the Dáil yesterday (Thursday, June 13).
Since the Forestry Programme commenced in September 2023, approvals for over 2,300ha have been issued under the Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme, figures by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show.
Ash dieback
Deputy Kerrane said the forestry sector was “not engaged” in the “additional changes that have been made to the scheme”, including the Climate Action Performance Payment (CAPP), once the independent review of ash dieback was completed.
Under the announced €79.5 million support package, the CAPP worth €5,000/ha will be paid to ash forest owners who either have or will clear the affected ash and replant through one of the DAFM’s ash dieback reconstitution schemes.
The current Reconstitution Ash Dieback Scheme 2023-2027 was established last year and follows on from the Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme (RUS) (Ash Dieback) 2020, and the Interim Reconstitution Scheme for Ash Dieback 2023.
Ash planted as a component of additional broadleaved planting in conifer plots is not eligible for the €5,000/ha CAPP payment. The LTWO chair said this will exclude a “large percentage of people who have lost ash planted under state aid schemes”.
“Many people planted substantial blocks of ash as a component of a conifer plantation, set aside for biodiversity and they are now suddenly deemed ineligible to apply for this amended RUS scheme,” White told the committee.
Minister Hackett, however, said she “always encouraged” people to apply for the scheme to avail of the CAPP. “So there has [been] no change to the scheme of that, the addition was this significant, almost €80 million package for the CAPP”.
The issue of site clearance was addressed in the independent review, according to Minister Hackett who said that, having engaged with stakeholders and landowners, the group felt that the doubling of the clearance rate to €2,000/ha was a “fair price” to pay.
Despite accepting that there “will be examples where people have to pay more”, Minister Hackett told Deputy Kerrane that this is a grant to support the clearance and that in some instances the clearance “might not cost €2,000/ha”.
The clearance grant under the scheme “does not recognise that it can cost much more”, with the actual cost ranging from €2,000/ha for very young sites to €7,000/ha and more for older plantations that require specialist machinery, White said.