The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed the ending of Scottish log exports to Ireland over the risk posed by the bark beetle.
Last August, department forestry inspectors found larch bark beetles (Ips cembrae) in a pheromone trap in Passage West Port in Co. Cork.
As a result, the export of coniferous logs from the Pest Free Area (PFA) of Scotland into Ireland was paused on a precautionary basis, pending a full investigation by the Scottish authorities.
This part of Scotland has been recognised since 2005 as free from a number of bark beetle pests, which are also absent from the island of Ireland.
This recognition of pest freedom has allowed coniferous roundwood to be exported from the PFA to the island of Ireland, with a phytosanitary certificate confirming the timber originates from this area.
Bark beetle
Over recent months, DAFM said it continued to engage closely with its Scottish and Northern Ireland counterparts.
However, last week Scottish Forestry informed the department that it cannot guarantee that the Scottish PFA is free from Ips cembrae bark beetles and, as such, can no longer meet EU phytosanitary import requirements.
Under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) standards, it is a matter for National Plant Protection Organisations (NPPOs) to determine the status of any pest on their territories, and to communicate that position to trading partners.
This communication from the Scottish authorities effectively brings to an end the trade in coniferous roundwood with Ireland.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon said that his department has “a clear plant health and biosecurity strategy in support of our agriculture, horticulture and forestry sectors”.
“Ireland is free of many of the bark beetle forest pests that are found in Europe and in Great Britain.
“It is very important for the future of forestry to maintain this pest freedom status given the economic, environmental and social importance of the sector to Ireland,” he said.
Minister of State at DAFM with responsibility for forestry, Michael Healy-Rae added:
“The cessation of trade in conifers arising from the changed status of Ips cembrae in the PFA will address the risk of introducing a harmful and damaging forest pest into Ireland.
“My officials will continue to survey extensively for protected zone bark beetle species and a range of other potentially harmful forest pests throughout the country in 2025.”
The department said that it has kept stakeholders informed of developments on the PFA through its Forest Health Stakeholder Group, which met three times in 2024 and was set up under its Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy.