Healy Rae encourages ash forest owners to apply for grant aid
The Minister of State with responsibility for Forestry, Michael Healy-Rae, has urged landowners with ash forest to apply for support under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) Reconstitution Scheme for Ash Dieback.
The scheme supports forest owners to clear dead ash trees and replant with another species, and to make themselves eligible for the additional Climate Action Performance Payment (CAPP) of €5,000/ha.
Minister of State Healy-Rae welcomed the fact that DAFM has paid out €23 million in total since 2013 on ash dieback affected forests.
According to DAFM, a total of €4.5 million has been paid out this year so far on clearance and replanting grants, and a further €4 million has been paid since last September on the CAPP to those who have cleared their lands and replanted.
In July 2023 DAFM launched the latest ash dieback scheme, the Reconstitution Scheme for Ash Dieback, under the new Forestry Programme with enhanced features that included:
- A 100% increase in the site clearance grant rate, to €2,000 per hectare.
- Enhanced replanting grant rates of between €3,858 and €8,555 per hectare, depending on the forest type replanted.
According to the minister, this means that for clearing and replanting, the range of payment to ash forest owners entering the scheme is between €5,858-€10,555/ha, and they can also avail of the additional €5,000/ha CAPP payment.
In addition, for those still in receipt of the farmer rate of yearly premium, they can receive a once-off top-up payment to the new premium rates within the new programme.
Minister of State Healy-Rae has encouraged farmers to "engage" with the enhanced scheme as soon as possible.
He said: "I welcome the fact that over a third of the total spending on ash dieback has occurred since last September (2024), and that the CAPP payment has been instrumental in encouraging ash forest owners to take action.
"There are still many ash forest owners who have not yet applied to reconstitute their ash forests and avail of this payment."
"I want to encourage ash forest owners to engage with the enhanced reconstitution scheme as soon as possible, as the quickest and most effective way to clear and reconstitute affected sites, and to avail of the Climate Action Performance Payment Scheme," Minister of State Healy-Rae added.
