John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. Since this issue is not within her area of responsibility, I appeal to her to speak directly to the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, who, I understand, is dealing with the problems posed by Japanese knotweed, to which I was alerted in recent times when travelling around County Mayo and elsewhere in the west. I saw signs popping up along the roadside asking people not to cut it. When I looked into the matter a little further, I found that Japanese knotweed was a highly invasive plant which had been introduced in Ireland as an ornamental plant in the 19th century. However, it has now become a major problem. It is spreading rapidly throughout the country along watercourses and transport routes and on unmaintained land. It is one of the worst invasive species because its root system and rapid growth can damage concrete foundations and buildings. It can come up through tarmac, roadways and so on.

There is a major problem with the species in County Mayo. I am aware of a scheme to deal with the problem along some national routes but others areas affected are not being treated. Overall, money is being spent. but there is a need for a strategic plan covering several years to sort out the problem which is expensive to deal with. That is an important point, but it would be better to do this in a strategic and planned way with the assistance of various agencies co-operating together rather than having each do its own thing and not knowing what the others are doing. Ballycroy National Park in County Mayo will be overrun by Japanese knotweed if there is not an overall strategy in place. Mayo is one of the counties worst affected.

Eradication, as I said, is costly. For example, it cost £88 million to clear the site for the Olympic village in London some years ago. The plant can be controlled successfully through the application of appropriate herbicides. However, eradication requires planning, since follow-up treatments are usually required. In that regard, consideration should also be given to the management and disposal of dead plant material and the treatment of contaminated soils. We need to prepare a management plan and seek expert help before tackling any significant infestation of the species. If we do not have such a plan involving all of the relevant State agencies, we are simply wasting our time and money.

I am aware that Transport Infrastructure Ireland was given a budget of €5.5 million to deal with this problem. A sum of €2 million would deal with the problem along national roads.However, there will have to be some way of going into private land to treat the whole infestation. If not, it will only be a control framework rather than a solution. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, or each county council needs to start a full treatment programme of all roads. So far, it has been a piecemeal approach, which is a waste of money and not good enough. All State lands within each agency need to be surveyed for the presence of these plants, especially land that may be required for building over the next ten years and State properties that will be sold like old HSE buildings or closed Garda stations.

The presence of an invasive plant on property can significantly reduce its value. Any flood relief schemes envisaged for any time in the future should be surveyed and treated now. There is a significant cost benefit to the State by doing it now in a strategic way. One of the main culprits for the spread of invasive plants is the rail corridors. It has been suggested that Iarnród Éireann to date has made little or no effort to treat these invasive plants and, as a result, the good work done by other agencies is not effective.

There is also a problem with the lack of facilities to deal with the disposal of material if it needs to be excavated. The material has no specific code, meaning local authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, do not know how to categorise the material from a planning perspective. I have been informed the solution would be to create a new category and to get these facilities open as soon as possible. We need to ascertain at an early date what invasive plants we have on State lands and to work together to solve this significant problem.