The IFA Ulster/North Leinster Regional Chairman, Frank Brady, says if diseased trees aren't felled then lives will be lost during storms. The IFA's north-east representative, said the recent storms highlight how weakened or dead trees cause problems for everyone, not least because they damage electricity, phone and broadband lines.
More seriously, a woman in her 20s from County Louth died during storm Isha when the van she was travelling in crashed into a fallen tree near Iniskeen. Frank Brady was prompted to ask "is it going to take a family being put out of it before they tackle the problem?"
He said the IFA, and in particular, Frank Brady from the Cavan branch, has raised the issue many times with the Department of Agriculture, but all to no avail. Mr Brady told the Joe Finnegan Show that trees need to be tossed, removed and replaced with new ones in locations that won't interfere with roads or power lines.
"So we asked Pippa Hackett in numerous occasions in the AGM at the IFA in Dublin will they do something about the Ash dieback," he said, "the trees are dying on the side of the road and is it going to take a family being put out of it or is it going to take some poor man walking along the side of the road that's going to die because they will not tackle the problem and the tackle of the problem is Ash dieback, the trees are dying, they have to be replaced as Michael says they have to be replaced in a place where they won't be interfering with the roads, ESB lines, the telephone lines, broadbands lines."
