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Ash Dieback Protest Leinster house 29th May 2024 11:30am
Ash Forest owners have reacted with shock to the Government’s refusal to implement the recommendations of their own independent review of ash dieback.
While welcoming the Government’s recognition, at last, that Ash growers deserve to be compensated for such loss that they were in no way responsible for and were powerless to prevent LTWO chairman Simon White said “Sadly the Government have botched this opportunity to resolve this crisis. The patience of ash growers has run out and they are losing confidence in the minister.”
At an emergency meeting of Limerick and Tipperary woodland Owners Ash Dieback Committee (LTWO) this week the following flaws were identified in the scheme.
- The recommendations of the Government’s review of Ash Dieback have been ignored.
- Clearance grants are capped at €2000/Ha but quotes for clearance are running at 6,500/Ha so farmers will have to borrow money to clear their land.
- Compensation of €5000/Ha does not compare with the typical loss of €40,000/Ha, according to independent forestry valuation, and this will not be paid out for several years.
- The forest service is still not functioning effectively, minister Hackett has already announced the IT system needed to implement the scheme isn’t ready and LTWO have numerous examples of farmers who waited years to be admitted to the previous Ash Dieback RUS scheme but are having grants withheld if there can’t meet the Forestry Service’s unrealistic deadlines.
- The compensation needs to be linked to the age of the forest and take an individual approach to each woodland. This one-size-fits-all approach is both inequitable and wrong.
- It is still the Government’s policy to force farmers who have lost their entire crop of trees to stay in forestry and so lose further decades of income from their land.
- It is the Government’s responsibility to keep tree diseases out of Ireland but they are failing to do this because it is cheaper and easier to pass the devastating costs of their failure onto the farmers they enticed into planting trees.
- All of these policies are driving the next generation away from forestry when forestry absolutely needs inter-generational planning if it is to succeed.
Chairman Simon White said “Enough is enough, LTWO are inviting all affected ash growers and all groups interested in the future of forestry to join them in a protest outside Leinster House at 11.30am on Wednesday 29th May to demand the immediate implementation of the ash dieback review report recommendations in full.
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