Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 June 2024
65. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will clarify the number of those excluded from the climate action performance payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25714/24]
View answerAll ash forest owners, who were paid to plant ash under a scheme funded by my Department are included and potentially eligible to receive the Climate Action Performance Payment. Almost 16,000 hectares of ash forests were grant aided by the Department from 1990 and all of these forest owners are eligible to avail of the Climate Action Performance Payment Scheme. We have provided funding of €79.5 million to cover the cost of this Scheme.
This Climate Action Performance Payment of €5,000 per hectare is available to those who replant their forests under a reconstitution scheme. Since the first finding of Ash Dieback in Ireland in 2012, my Department has introduced Reconstitution Schemes to restore forests planted under the afforestation scheme which had suffered from, or which were associated with, plants affected by disease. Under the new Reconstitution for Ash Dieback Scheme which opened last year site clearance grants were doubled to €2,000 per hectare. Furthermore grant and premium rates under the Scheme were enhanced to the higher levels found in the new Forestry Programme.
My Department continues to issue approvals under the Reconstitution scheme. Reconstitution Scheme approvals have issued for over 2,300 hectares in the past 9 months and applications for a further 1,500 hectares are currently being processed demonstrating increased demand for this scheme. I want to encourage ash forest owners who have not yet replanted to engage with the enhanced reconstitution scheme as the quickest and most effective way to clear and reconstitute affected sites. This will also enable them apply for the new Climate Action Performance Payment of €5,000 per hectare.
