Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to that again.

On digitisation, one initiative is the Beyond 2022 project, Ireland's virtual record treasury. An allocation of €95,000 was approved to support the transition phase of that initiative. It is being led by Trinity College, Dublin and is a very exciting project. It will go a long way to preserving our collections and records, which are important in the context of Irish history.

Reference was made to invasive species, particularly Japanese knotweed. It is difficult to deal with them but it is something that we must tackle. It is an offence to spread alien invasive species and responsibility for dealing with such species ultimately falls to the landowner. The law is enforceable to some extent but it is difficult in the case of individuals who allow species such as knotweed or rhododendron to infest lands around their property, particularly if they are elderly or infirm. Many introductions are accidental but some are deliberate. In terms of invasive fish species, accidental introductions can happen when they are carried on the bottom of boats or get caught in fishing tackle and so on. The Asian clam is an insidious, highly invasive freshwater species and it is often difficult to acquire sufficient proof for prosecutions for that particular species. New regulations, which transposed the 2014 EU regulations on invasive species, have been introduced here. The EU published a new regulation, which came into operation on 1 January 2015. It aims to establish a framework for concerted action across the EU to prevent the spread of invasive species to protect biodiversity and the economic health of certain sectors. The former Minister at my Department, Deputy Heather Humphreys, announced the establishment of an invasive fund in late 2017 for the targeted removal of invasive alien species, particularly those listed under the EU regulation. Funding can be provided to local authorities for projects led by the authorities themselves or by community groups. The fund amounts to €150,000 in the first year of operation, which was 2018, and I increased that to €200,000 this year. I announced that increase at the National Biodiversity Conference. I also promised at that conference to double the funding. The Chairman's points about invasive species are important. He made specific reference to rhododendron.