Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Question 211: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport his plans to initiate legislation to ban the importation of alien plants and potentially invasive species which pose a threat to inland fisheries and marine life; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10525/11]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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Under the Wildlife Acts, it is against the law to release any species of wild animal, including wild birds, with the intention of establishing a new wild population, unless under a licence. In addition, the planting or growing in a wild state of any species of flora is prohibited without a licence.

However, the spread of invasive species continues to be threat to biodiversity. As well as threatening native wildlife and flora, invasive species can have seriously detrimental effects on a number of sectors including agriculture, forestry angling and tourism. It is my Department's intention, therefore, to include enhanced provisions in the forthcoming Birds and Natural Habitats Regulations which will provide for appropriate regulatory measures to be taken to control movement, sale, possession and dispersal of ecologically harmful and invasive species of plants and animals in Ireland.