*Clare Independent TD, Violet-Anne Wynne
CLARE Independent TD, Violet-Anne Wynne has been raising issues forestry in County Clare with the new Executive of the Irish Farmers Association this week.
Deputy Wynne was questioning the new IFA Executive team in a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food, and the Marine on Wednesday.
The Clare TD raised the Monterey Bark Beetle that has now affected 21 forestry plantations in Cratloe, and the long-running scandal of Ash Dieback. She said;
“I recently had a meeting with the local IFA representatives – Tom Lane, Tom Holmes, Michael Davoren and Darren Sheehy. At that meeting they outlined to me the awareness that there was bark beetle in Cratloe. What engagements has the Department had with those farmers, as I am not aware of much engagement? No farmer in my constituency should be out of pocket because of what seems to be a lack of prevention and lack of oversight, as the witnesses have mentioned, in terms of biosecurity. This is a major concern for Clare because, as the committee will be aware, 20% of Clare is forested and the county has the largest plantation of ash trees. It is a major concern for the farmers there.”
“The ash dieback issue has been spoken about at length. The recommendations have been available since September and four months later, the implementation plan has not been forthcoming. For many farmers in Clare, there is a lack of confidence now because of the management of the ash dieback and also the more than a decade that has gone by. It has been no good to them. It has diminished their confidence in being able to address the bark beetle issue as well and also is affecting farmers going into forestry, which is also a major concern.”
On the questions that I have, people have pushed these guys on the timeline of the temporary suspension and the review. With the acknowledgement of the lack of the implementation plan, that is where the anticipation is coming from.
Mr. Gorman himself mentioned “the political will”. I suppose it is just a trend that we are seeing when it comes to forestry as we know how long it took for the forestry programme to come forward even though most would feel it is not fit purpose as it is.
Another part of the ash dieback issue that I wanted to touch on is that there is ash dieback on local authority land, especially on the roadside, and that this is causing hazardous conditions for the public, in particular, given the inclement weather that we face now. It is a major concern. The local IFA representatives explained to me that we need the Department to instruct the local authorities to remove them, and we have not had that so far. I would be grateful if the witnesses could touch on that issue as to why we are not getting that kind of joined-up thinking from the Department to local authority level and the fact that it has experienced significant delays as well. Jason mentioned the €30 million underspent by the Department each year so you might outline from the IFA’s perspective why that is occurring.
In his reply incoming IFA Forestry Chair, Jason Fleming said; “I can start with that. A lack of take-up of planting is the reason the money is unspent. As I have said, there is no confidence in the sector and that is why farmers are not planting.”
He continued; “I will go through a few of the Deputy’s questions. On the bark beetle that was found in Cratloe, our understanding from the Department there is that it is engaging with the farmers in Clare and they are trying to contain it to the 21 farmers there. We have heard nothing back.”
“I was at a meeting in Clare just before Christmas with Tom and John Fitzgerald. Clare is one of the biggest counties that was affected with ash dieback. Believe it or not, it took over the whole meeting. We had a good meeting on all types of forestry as in we discussed a lot of topics but the ash dieback was the main concern. They are looking for action from the likes of ourselves to lead them and to try to get this review implemented. As I said earlier, it would go a long way to getting a small bit of confidence back into the sector.
The Deputy mentioned the roadside trees. That is a massive concern for us. As Mr. Gorman will outline, the likes of me bring it up on a monthly basis at the national council and we have good support on that. We have written to the local authorities and the Department but what we are looking for here is support for us as farmers to take down these trees from the local authorities. To be fair, from a health and safety point of view, we would not advise any farmer to go tackle these trees on their own, especially roadside trees, because they are unsafe. Whatever part one goes at, a branch could fall, etc. Especially over the wintertime, with guys walking, cycling, etc., these trees are a health and safety risk. The sooner there is a package put in place to support us, the better. We are not looking for full compensation. We are only looking for support to take down the trees. The cost of taking down these trees is frightening because we must have a traffic management plan on either side and we need tree surgeons who know what they are doing to take down the trees. The health and safety aspect of this is a massive concern for us. With the cost of this, farmers themselves might attack the trees themselves and we do not want that.”
Incoming President of the IFA, Francie Gorman said; “Deputy, we will try to get a handle on the acreage involved in Clare if we can and get back to you on it. The issue about the review is best practice should dictate that that would be an ongoing practice within the Department anyway.
“The Department should be doing it either way. All we look for is that there are proper biosecurity measures in place and that a proper inspection regime is put in place. The Department is very good at inspecting in various other ways, to be fair. We want the funding and the proper protocols to be put in place. That should be an ongoing practice. That should be best practice in the Department anyway.”
Speaking following the meeting, Deputy Wynne said; “What this discussion highlighted for me is how failings on biosecurity checks at our Ports have now left my constituents in Cratloe out of pocket and potentially at risk of poisoning their whole forestry crop, and others. I will be raising this issue on the floor of the Dáil next week with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine under Statements on UK Imports. This beetle was shipped over here from Scotland and as our nearest trading partner it is absolutely crucial that the severity of our checking regime does not allow this to happen again. This is a failing on Foynes Port as I understand and on the Department and I will be seeking answers on behalf of my 21 affected constituents in Cratloe.
