The Department of Marine and Natural Resources will have to pay grants and compensation totalling over £760,000 for forestry plantations which failed because of unsuitable soil conditions not detected by inspectors.
A total of 58 landowners and 373.5 hectares of forestry were affected. The failure of the trees to thrive was found to be because of shell-marl in the soil.
Shell-marl is a highly alkaline material, containing small snail shells which normally occurs under midland peat. Its existence has been known of since the 1950s and soil containing high levels of shell-marl were known to be unsuitable for commercial forestry.
However, in his audit, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, found that the Departments of Energy and Agriculture had previously provided an advisory service, sending out inspectors who advised landowners on the suitability of sites and prescribed the most suitable species to plant.
"Many of the inspecting staff who carried out field assessments at pre-planting approval stage were not aware of shell-marl in the soil," Mr Purcell said.
As a result, the State will be at a financial loss. Grants were paid to the landowners when they first planted the trees and again four years later, subject to a further inspection. These will cost a total of £180,000 to write off.
Under an agreement between the Department of Marine and Natural Resources and Coillte, the State forestry board will undertake a soil survey of the sites and, where appropriate, return the land to agricultural use. Coillte will pay the cost of providing these services. The cost of returning these lands to agricultural use is estimated at £740 per hectare.
There were 58 shell-marl cases by May, 1999 involving 373.5 hectares. Grants and premia amounts payable in respect of these 58 cases totalled £575,182. In addition, compensation claims for £154,806 in respect of 12 cases were being dealt with, while £8,328 for three cases had already been paid. No legal proceedings for compensation were pending.
A further four cases covering 11.3 hectares are awaiting confirmation of the existence of shellmarl.
In order to identify and prevent the planting of shell-marl sites, soil testing was introduced in 1994 at the grant approval stage. Since then, only one further case of crop failure has emerged, out of a total of 10,000 cases processed.
Mr Purcell concluded that the revised testing appeared to be working effectively.