An Ash Dieback Conference took place in Thurles on Saturday.
Addressing the crowd IFA President and Toomevara farmer Tim Cullinan, said the treatment of farmers affected by the disease has been hugely damaging to farmer confidence in forestry.
He said the level of support offered to the impacted farmers has been totally insufficient.
The lack of an adequate response from consecutive Governments over the last decade has been central to the decline in farmer planting in the intervening years according to Cullinane.
He is calling on Minister McConalogue to introduce a new scheme that recognises the financial loss incurred by the disease.
