LANDOWNERS who have received a payment for replanting their ash plantation may now apply for the first instalment of an additional payment.
It comes after Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett (GP) announced the opening of the Climate Action Performance Payment (CAPP) Scheme for ash dieback.
Applications can now be made by landowners through an online portal www.agfood.ie.
The Climate Action Performance Payment (CAPP) Scheme is part of the Ash Dieback Action Plan, which includes an overall financial package of up to €237 million for forest owners impacted by ash dieback disease. This CAPP payment, totalling €5,000 per hectare, will be paid in three instalments, and will be made directly to the forest owner.
Junior Minister Hackett stated, “The opening of the Scheme and its online application portal is a key step in the implementation of the Ash Dieback Action Plan. This will provide direct financial support of €5,000 per hectare over and above clearance and reconstitution grants to ash forest owners who have cleared their sites and replanted with another species”.
She encouraged ash forest owners who have not yet applied for a reconstitution scheme for ash dieback to do so, as only on completion of site clearance and replanting will they become eligible to apply for this new Climate Action Performance Payment. She pointed out that the rates for site clearance have doubled under the new Forestry Programme and that attractive replanting rates are available under the new Reconstitution for Ash Dieback Scheme 2023-2027.
“Clearing and re-establishing these plantations will deliver for carbon sequestration, by replacing dead sites with vibrant, healthy ones, and for farm family incomes through the €5,000 per hectare Climate Action Performance Payment. With the portal now open, I would encourage all eligible forest owners to apply online for the Climate Action Performance Payment so that they receive their first instalment before the end of the year”.
There are 1,900 hectares that will be eligible to apply immediately for the first instalment of the CAPP. This creates a potential payment of €4.75 million to landowners before the end of the year.
€2,5000 can be applied for after receipt of a first grant on an ash reconstitution scheme.
€1,250 can be applied for once the second grant on the reconstitution scheme is paid and premium payments on the affected plantation are complete. €1,250 can be applied for the following year.
There are four reconstitution schemes that are eligible under the new CAPP Scheme, Reconstitution Scheme Ash Dieback 2013, Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme (Ash Dieback) 2020, Interim Reconstitution Scheme for Ash Dieback (via General De Minimis) 2023 and Reconstitution for Ash Dieback Scheme 2023-2027.
