Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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76. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is aware of the harm to the environment caused by the Asian hornet; and if he will instruct his Department to investigate the issue and ensure the population of this invasive species is under control. [50686/25]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to my reply to Question No. 664 of 17 September and Question No. 1176 of 8 September which set out the position regarding the Asian Hornet.

Coordinated efforts were undertaken to deal with the immediate threat posed by the arrival of Asian Hornet. Medium-term actions will be carefully developed pending the outcome of this first phase where eradication is the key objective.

The immediate threat has now been managed, however our teams are continuing to follow up on every reported sighting. At this point in time, the efforts of all those involved are focused on restricting the extent of the introduction and on putting monitoring in place to prevent the further spread of the species in the Cork area.