Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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443. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 317 of 24 February 2021 (details supplied), the progress that has been made by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in identifying the person or body responsible for removing this invasive species on the area covered under the habitats directive; if he will arrange for its removal as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21334/21]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I understand that Fingal County Council has recently applied for funding through my Department's Local Authority Biodiversity Grant Scheme to address the sea buckthorn issue in the area.

My Department's National Parks and Wildlife Service is preparing a tender request for expertise to carry out a review of sea buckthorn in Ireland. This request is at an advanced stage and aims to:

1) review the ecology of sea buckthorn as an invasive species,

2) map the distribution and extent of sea buckthorn in Ireland and

3) review and recommend methods to control or eradicate sea buckthorn at sites where it occurs.

This project is intended to be advertised before the end of May 2021. Once underway, the project will inform measures to control or eliminate sea buckthorn at sites where it threatens coastal habitats nationally.