The ash dieback package announced last week has attracted a mixed reaction from plantation owners and the industry.

Those worst affected by the disease have dismissed it as totally inadequate, claiming that the €5,000/ha being offered comes nowhere near compensating landowners for the losses they have suffered.

Some maintain that they have lost up to €25,000/ha due to ash dieback, and they want a package that reflects that level of loss.

They also point out that the €2,000/ha to clear diseased plantations is too low and needs to be doubled at least.

There is also anger that plantation owners were not consulted before the support scheme was launched.

However, there is another cohort of growers who feel the support package currently on the table is the only train leaving the station and plantation owners who are committed to forestry have just got to get on board.

Disputes

As with all intense disputes, there is right on both sides.

While The Dealer has not always been the greatest fan of the Minister of State Pippa Hackett even her staunchest critics have to concede that she has genuinely sought to deal with the ash dieback crisis.

She commissioned and published the hard-hitting independent review of the Department of Agriculture’s performance on ash dieback; and now she has secured an €80m support scheme. The aid package certainly has serious shortcomings, but it’s there, and it’s funded. And that’s a hell of a lot more than any of Pippa’s predecessors can claim to have delivered.