The €5,000/ha ash dieback payment being offered to clear diseased plantations is not going to be a lump sum, it has been revealed.

The payment will be made in three instalments, with the final two paid four to five years after the initial.

This per-hectare payment includes an initial injection of €2,500 once a site is cleared and replanted.

At the end of the premium, four years later, a further payment of €1,250 will be made, followed by €1,250/ha a year later.

These details were confirmed to Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Claire Kerrane TD following a committee meeting with the secretary general of the Department of Agriculture.

“This is not what was announced,” she said.

Communication

Deputy Kerrane said the communication around this payment is incorrect and Minister of State with responsibility for forestry Pippa Hackett should correct the initial announcement made.

“The very least the minister can do after leaving landowners affected by ash dieback for the last 10 years is communicate honestly on the scheme announced.

“I am calling on Minister Hackett to correct her press statement and add in this important detail, rather than leaving those affected thinking they will receive a payment of €5,000[/ha], which you would read from the statement was a payment in one go,” she said.

Package

The €79.5m package announced in recent weeks provides for a €5,000/ha payment to farmers who clear ash sites and reestablish new forests in their place.

The Department has said that the average ash plantation is 3ha in size, resulting in an average payment under the new scheme of €15,000 for affected landowners.

Around 6,000 forestry owners have been affected by the disease and compensation was one of the key recommendations of last October’s independent review of the Department of Agriculture’s response to the disease.

Over 25,000ha of ash forests are estimated to be affected by the disease in Ireland.