Some 322 cases of ash dieback have been confirmed in Irish forestry plantations, the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture show.
The figures, obtained by the Irish Farmers Journal, show that in 2016, some 207 cases of the disease were confirmed.
This is a huge increase compared with the period from October 2012 to the end of 2015, when 115 cases were identified in plantations.
The Department of Agriculture confirmed that 18 of the new forestry plantation findings in 2016 were in counties where there had previously been no confirmed findings.
The 2016 findings also showed an increase in affected counties rising from 19 to 24, with a Department spokesperson saying that “the disease is present, to a greater or lesser extent, in all 26 counties in Ireland”.
The two counties which have no confirmed findings to date are Donegal and Kerry.
Furthermore, in 2016, there were three new confirmed finding in commercial nurseries and two re-occurrences of the disease in two other nurseries.
Commercial nurseries
There have been 28 confirmed findings in commercial nurseries.
The Department of Agriculture figures also show that there were:
Three confirmed findings in farm landscaping/agri-environment scheme plantings. One confirmed finding in a private garden. Twenty-four individual samples taken from trees in roadside/motorway landscaping which tested positive.Thirty-eight individual samples taken from trees in native hedgerows in counties Cavan, Clare, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Mayo, Meath, Roscommon, Tipperary, Wexford, and Wicklow, which all tested positive.
Some 322 cases of ash dieback have been confirmed in Irish forestry plantations, the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture show.
The figures, obtained by the Irish Farmers Journal, show that in 2016, some 207 cases of the disease were confirmed.
This is a huge increase compared with the period from October 2012 to the end of 2015, when 115 cases were identified in plantations.
The Department of Agriculture confirmed that 18 of the new forestry plantation findings in 2016 were in counties where there had previously been no confirmed findings.
The 2016 findings also showed an increase in affected counties rising from 19 to 24, with a Department spokesperson saying that “the disease is present, to a greater or lesser extent, in all 26 counties in Ireland”.
The two counties which have no confirmed findings to date are Donegal and Kerry.
Furthermore, in 2016, there were three new confirmed finding in commercial nurseries and two re-occurrences of the disease in two other nurseries.
Commercial nurseries
There have been 28 confirmed findings in commercial nurseries.
The Department of Agriculture figures also show that there were:
Three confirmed findings in farm landscaping/agri-environment scheme plantings. One confirmed finding in a private garden. Twenty-four individual samples taken from trees in roadside/motorway landscaping which tested positive.Thirty-eight individual samples taken from trees in native hedgerows in counties Cavan, Clare, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Mayo, Meath, Roscommon, Tipperary, Wexford, and Wicklow, which all tested positive. 
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