Senator Pippa Hackett, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity in the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM), said there was “constructive engagement” at the first meeting of the ash dieback taskforce.
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.
The ash dieback taskforce will meet four times a year, for a period of up to three years.
The taskforce met yesterday (Tuesday, May 28), and Minister Hackett said there was “constructive engagement of all concerned” at the first meeting.
The following organisations attended yesterday’s meeting of the Forest Strategy Consultative Committee (FSCC) ash dieback taskforce:
FSCC ash dieback taskforce members Organisation Donal Whelan Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA) Padraig Egan Forest Industries Ireland (FII) Jason Fleming Irish Farmers Association (IFA) Tom Houlihan Teagasc Derek McCabe Irish Forest Owners (IFO) John Roche Social Economic Environmental Forestry Association (SEEFA) Simon White Limerick and Tipperary Woodland Owners (LTWO)
Minister Hackett said: “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.
“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,” Minister Hackett concluded.
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/ha.
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.