Another pest found in Ireland

HAckett has responsibility for the forestry sector including the health of the forest estate.

Yet again, she has failed.

How much ass-licking do sycophants actually do? Is there no end? Wake up and see the forest for the trees.

Plant health is in her remit. She's paid enough so could tighten up in phytosanitary issues.

Axe to grind?Interesting choice of words considering the damage Hackett has deliberately inflicted on the forest industry since she came to power.

Seriously she;s the walking definition of blond bimbo where matters forestry are concerned.

There are no words to describe the damage that bitch has presided over.

From her own department which is investigating the matter.....

Please explain how it has been a disaster..

Hackett has ignored the best advice of experienced foresters and instead relied on the her technical foresters in the Forest Service, most of whom have no practial experience. These are the Forest Service Inspectors we never see at field days

because I'm quite sure they could not answer any technical questions.

Instead they send out older experienced foresters to represent the department.

HAckett has presided over the deliberate destruction of the industry since she came to office. If she had the best interests of forestry at heart she would hve implemented the McKinnon Report immediately and in its entirety. That report did not reflect well on the current technical leadership.

Confidence in the Forest Service is nil and it should be disbanded. Hackett should be fired. She's incapable of organizing the proverbial piss up in a brewery. Stop defending the indefensible.

DerDermot McAree , former Chief Inspector of the Forest Service was a plant health inspector before he became top dog. He routinely oversaw the burning of imported timber on the docks of Drogheda if he found so much as a piece of bark on it. That zealousness is no longer there. The forest service inspectorate, few of whom have any genuine interest in forestry sought a voluntary ban on the import of ash trees, rather than downing tools and striking until the then minister pulled the finger out. Ash dieback would eventually have come here. But how about the current imports of timber from the UK where the spruce bark beetle is now endemic? We import timber  from there because the current forest inspectorate, presided over by Hackett saddled us with a massive felling licence backlog. The blame falls on the shoulders of Chief Inspector Seamus Dunne and his fellow technical staff who have been defended to the hilt by asst secretaty Colm Hayes in front of a Dail committee in spite of the overwhelming evidence of their inability to do their jobs. It's the public service looking after its own to the detriment of the citizenry. Same crap happened to those women who died because of the cervical check coverup. When does it end? I stated Hackett is saddled with responsibility for forestry, and from its promotion to plant health she has failed. Are you a public service worker, because the concept of accountability appears to be alien to you? Her incompetence nor that of her technical staff would not be tolerated in the private sector.

Time to take on those public servants. Guess they are the ones who in the weeks before Leaving Cert quietly disappeared for a day or 2 to take the Junior X exam which was entry to the public service. They fact that they have been cocooned for their working lives in the civil service makes them unable to understand reality. Of course they take their cues from Robert Watt, the top civil servant who engineered a massive salary for himself, refused to appear before the PAC , and who secured a lucrative job for Tony Holohan in TCD, to be footed by €2 million of taxpayers money unilaterally ring-fenced by Watt. The other part is that the Greens demanded the forestry portfolio as a condition of them entering government-this I have from a senior govt player-and they will not relinquish it until they damage it beyond repair. Hackett is part of this deliberate destruction of an industry and livelihoods and costs the taxpayer millions in lost taxation and income as well as fines for failure to reduce carbon emissions.

Hackett is no innocent in this; she's ruthless and calculating and dangerous-ask Hazel Chu- and her constant simpering and smiling for the camera should fool nobody.

The most useless and destructive minister for forestry in the history of the state. She must assume responsibility for all that happens on her watch, and as a public figure is deserving of all and any invective and criticism that comes her way.

YOu're a bit behind the times-that's been here since 2021.

Not aware how its arrival pertains to Hackett as it poses no direct risk to trees.

Stop acting like a drone and accept the horseshit and official lines fed to you and ask questions about accountability among top civil servants. From women in the Hep C scandal to cervical check women to kids thrown into homes and raped by religious, out public service is up to its neck in blood. Surely a little accountability is not too much to ask for? Hackett's sorry record in forestry is an indictment of her total inability to do the job required as well as an indictment of the Secretaty, Asst. Secretary and the technical foresters within the department who are either incompetent or too goddamned lazy to do their job or too scared to rock the boat.