The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) is calling for the urgent implementation of the recommendations contained in a recently published report delivered to the Department of Agriculture on ash dieback.

The association’s farm forestry chair Jason Fleming welcomed the report’s recommendations as being broadly in line with the submission put to the report’s group by the IFA.

Fleming has outlined five of the key measures the IFA wants to see stepped out with urgency:

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  • 1: a simplified approval process for site clearance.
  • 2: grant aid for the full cost of site clearance, with additional supports for clearing challenging sites.
  • 3: a review of re-establishment and maintenance costs.
  • 4: the introduction of a new and annual re-establishment payment consistent with those paid under the new forestry programme.
  • 5: exploring the potential for a one-off payment in recognition of the absence of an 'effective' scheme between 2018 and 2023.

    • “The publication of the report is a positive step forward,” Fleming said.

    “It is a vindication for the farmers that the Government’s response, particularly between 2018 to 2023, was ineffective and did not meet the needs of forest owners.

    “The speed at which the Government respond on the foot of this report will be critical to rebuilding trust and confidence in forestry and will be fundamental to how farmers judge the attractiveness of forestry as a land use.”

    Read more

    Farmers hit with ash dieback should receive payment – report