Written answers
Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Invasive Species Policy
Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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818. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government given that, on 31 March 2023 Galway City Council issued an alert regarding the potential spread of the invasive quagga mussel to the Corrib system, what management plans, public notifications and risk mitigations the National Parks and Wildlife Service has put in place to prevent the spread of quagga mussel to Lough Corrib SAC and the potential ecological impact on native species/habitats; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17533/23]
Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department is responsible for the implementation of the Wildlife Acts and the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, both of which prohibit the spreading of invasive species. The Quagga mussel is listed as an invasive alien species of national concern on the Third Schedule to the 2011 Regulations.
While my Department leads on the implementation of the legislative framework around invasive alien species in general, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has statutory responsibility for the protection and management of Ireland’s rivers, streams and lakes. This includes Lough Corrib where IFI carries out extensive work to tackle the outbreak of Lagarosiphon major.
The NPWS has recently published Priority Pathway Action Plans for recreational boating and angling. The aim of these Plans is to prevent or minimise the risk posed by priority pathways of introduction, for invasive alien species, using measures such as raising public awareness and setting out actions to prevent unintentional introductions by minimizing the contamination of goods, commodities, vehicles, and equipment such species, and ensuring appropriate border checks.
In 2022, the NPWS Local Biodiversity Action Fund supported nine local authorities to undertake a project on the Quagga mussel to help understand the extent and distribution of this species as well as its current and potential future impacts in the Shannon system. The project aimed to identify biosecurity/management measures required to contain and limit its spread to other sites including protected sites like Lough Corrib SAC. Awareness materials have been produced as an output of these project which have been distributed to key stakeholders.
The fund is again supporting projects on the Quagga mussel across 10 local authorities in 2023 with a view to furthering our understanding of this species in Irish freshwater environments and the steps that can be taken to contain and limit its spread and impacts.
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