The ash plant is part of Irish mythology. Not just as an available and economical walking stick but also as the essential wood in the hurley and, of course, the tree itself is ubiquitous across the country.

So many roads are lined with self-propagating ash trees. As saplings, they are usually spared by the hedge cutter and are allowed to grow to maturity.

There is a problem with our ash trees.

Over the last 15 years, a fungus has attacked our ash plantations and farmers and others who planted in the expectation of annual broadleafed premium payments and an eventual remunerative harvest have instead faced acres of worthless half-grown diseased trees.

While there is a replanting scheme in operation, it is proving cumbersome and, in many cases, impractical to implement. In addition, some of the underlying assumptions on the marketability of diseased timber are not being borne out in practice.

There is now little doubt that the disease was first brought into the country on young Dutch nursery stock.

There is little point in apportioning blame at this stage but, nevertheless, the point is validly made that safeguarding plant health is and has been the responsibility of Government and, specifically, the Department of Agriculture.

Being an island should give us an enormous advantage in protecting us against plant and, indeed, animal disease.

But with the benefit of hindsight we may have been too trusting in the health certificates issued by exporting EU member states. At this stage, that is of little relevance to those growers who have been badly affected, both emotionally and financially.

Review

At a minimum, an impartial review of how those affected should be undertaken and a compensation scheme worked out that actually reflects the losses suffered.