Mr. Michael Nolan:

This has been identified as a significant problem that will get out of control over the coming years unless we intervene. TII identified this as a risk a number of years ago and we developed a programme to address the problem on the network.

We have made grants available to the local authorities that are most impacted by the invasive species, namely those along the western, northern and south western seaboard. In conjunction with the local authorities we have made significant inroads in terms of dealing with Japanese knotweed on the national road network. The programme of works will go on ad infinitumbecause it is not simple. Often it is necessary to treat Japanese knotweed three or four times and one has to keep coming back, over time, to observe and to determine if further treatment is needed.