By John Considine
Over the last couple of months there has been a number of media stories about the problems of sourcing ash for hurley-making. Recent concerns come on top of the longer term problem of ash-dieback disease. At the end of March, Canning Hurleys issued a statement saying that they were about to cease trading. This prompted one elected representative to put down a parliamentary question on the issue (see below).
The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture answered. She took the opportunity to explain the support provided by her department and she drew attention to the ash die-back disease. She claimed that during the last decade over 80% of the planks for making-hurleys were imported. She listed a number of countries from where the ash was imported. It included the Ukraine. The Minister said "A number of hurley-makers import ash planks from Ukraine and this supply is disrupted due to the Russian invasion".
I decided to put some numbers on the ash plank imports. In this task I was aided by the International Trade in Goods section in the Central Statistics Office. The pie chart below shows the 2021 origin of imported ash planks (by value of imports). About 6.5% come from the Ukraine.
I decided to put some numbers on the ash plank imports. In this task I was aided by the International Trade in Goods section in the Central Statistics Office. The pie chart below shows the 2021 origin of imported ash planks (by value of imports). About 6.5% come from the Ukraine.
It is important to note that this is ash plank imports for all uses and not just hurley-making. The Minister made no mention of the United States. If we presume that she was well informed by her department officials then the planks coming from the US are not for hurley-making. Maybe it is an issue of quality.
The issue of quality was mentioned in the Canning Hurleys statement and the PQ from Sean Sherlock. Maybe the US ash is not of sufficient quality for hurley-making. Or maybe the quality and, therefore, the price are too high for hurley-making. If the quality of US ash is not appropriate then the importance of the Ukrainian imports increases dramatically. If the quality of the US ash is appropriate then there is less cause for concern. Someone who saw the above chart suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that we might try to persuade (Irish) American President Joe Biden to make more ash available to Ireland in the way the US is releasing some of the US energy stock piles.
The issue of quality was mentioned in the Canning Hurleys statement and the PQ from Sean Sherlock. Maybe the US ash is not of sufficient quality for hurley-making. Or maybe the quality and, therefore, the price are too high for hurley-making. If the quality of US ash is not appropriate then the importance of the Ukrainian imports increases dramatically. If the quality of the US ash is appropriate then there is less cause for concern. Someone who saw the above chart suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that we might try to persuade (Irish) American President Joe Biden to make more ash available to Ireland in the way the US is releasing some of the US energy stock piles.
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