Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Her reply points to the fact that contractors receive a substantially greater amount of money than those in the voluntary work camps. The latter group has been most successful in clearing much of the Killarney National Park of Rhododendron for a period.

Is the Minister aware that Groundwork, the group that carried out many of the voluntary work camps, has revisited the matter? Those work camps have not been on for three years due to a change in the Department away from funding the camps to funding private contractors. Groundwork's representatives have retraced their steps and revisited some of these sites in Killarney National Park. They have found that Rhododendron has now spread back into those areas because the work they did was not continued and maintained. That shows that the money being spent at present is not cost-effective and does not prevent Rhododendron from recurring, unless the clearance work is undertaken year after year.

It does not just concern Killarney National Park because other areas also require such an approach, rather than depending only on the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

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