The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has warned that local forestry farmers would "bear the brunt" of consequences if a larch beetle infestation were to happen in Ireland.

It comes after the announcement that the Department of Agriculture has suspended all conifer log exports from the pest-free area of Scotland.

The suspension was taken as a precaution due to the findings of three large larch beetles in a pheromone trap in Passage West Port in Cork.

IFA farm forestry chair Padraig Stapleton said this was the correct decision, given the threat posed by the bark beetle.

“A spruce bark beetle outbreak would cause extensive economic loss to the forest industry, but it would be farmers that would bear the brunt of the economic consequences.”

Risk

The larch bark beetle is a large black bark-boring insect which is found in much of Europe and Britain.

The IFA had called on the Department to suspend timber imports from Scotland as early as two years ago.

“We would have liked to see this in place before now, but the discovery of the bark beetle at Cork Port meant action had to be taken,” Stapleton added.

“We must not put the forestry industry and our forests at risk for short-term gains. The experience from Europe is that overlooking just one spruce bark beetle can lead to widespread infestation.”

Scottish log imports suspended due to larch beetle threat

Farmers would ‘bear the brunt’ of larch beetle outbreak - IFA

The larch bark beetle is a large black bark-boring insect which is found in much of Europe and Britain.