Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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381. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to control and eradicate the spread of the invasive plant species rhododendron ponticum (details supplied) from peatlands and in particular from west Donegal; if there are no plans, when she will devise an eradication plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8754/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is responsible for implementing the Wildlife Acts and the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 477/2011), both of which deal with invasive species issues. In law, control of invasive species is primarily a matter for landowners on whose land they occur.

Rhododendron is a considerable problem and poses a threat especially to native woodland and can spread extensively on peatlands. My Department carries out considerable work on control of rhododendron in National Parks and Nature Reserves, including Glenveagh National Park, but I do not have the resources required to extend such work into the wider countryside or private lands.

There is no specific control and eradication plans for rhododendron in place in relation to designated peatlands outside the National Parks and Nature Reserves. However, there is considerable work being carried out by a number of bodies to contain certain problematic species and my Department, with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, is gathering information on what measures are in operation in order to assess what resources are required, and how better coordination might contribute to more effective control.