Hope for ash tree growers with new Ash Dieback Taskforce in place

Ash dieback is a disease of ash trees caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus which has caused consternation amongst growers of ash tress worldwide now ash growers in Ireland will be focused on the Ash Dieback Action Plan.

Senator Pippa Hackett, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity in the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM), welcomed the first meeting of the Ash Dieback Taskforce this week. 

The Taskforce is a DAFM-chaired group, comprised of the relevant stakeholders including representatives of ash plantation owners, whose purpose is to facilitate a co-ordinated response and a swift implementation of the Ash Dieback Action Plan. 

Minister Hackett commented: “When bringing the Ash Dieback Action Plan to Cabinet last month, together with an additional €79.5 million in funding for ash plantation owners, I stated my strong commitment to ensuring that my Department acts swiftly to implement all of the recommendations of the Independent Review that I commissioned into previous handling of the outbreak of ash dieback.  

“Stakeholder participation and representation of ash plantation owners will be central to my Department’s implementation of the Action Plan, and today’s first meeting of the Ash Dieback Taskforce is a key step along this road.”

Concluding, the Minister said: “The Taskforce will be the forum through which my Department will engage in an open and detailed manner with representatives of landowners and of the wider forestry sector as we move forward to implement the Action Plan.

“I welcome the constructive engagement of all concerned at today’s first meeting, and I look forward to continued progress over the coming months.”

The overall support for ash plantation owners amounts to potentially €237 million, including the new €79.5 million Climate Action Performance Payment, which will be paid at a rate of €5,000 per hectare.

This new payment is available to all ash forest owners who, under a Departmental ash dieback reconstitution scheme, clear their sites and carry out replanting.