This being National Biodiversity Week it is really important we acknowledge the enormous positive work at the local level within our communities by schools, farmers, environmental organisations and especially volunteers and Tidy Towns groups. They do extraordinary work to protect and enhance biodiversity. If we are serious about protecting biodiversity we also need to be serious about confronting invasive species and this is what I will focus on in my contribution. In towns and villages in County Tipperary and across the country communities are increasingly dealing with invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed. These are no longer isolated environmental concerns but public safety issues, infrastructure issues and indeed major financial liabilities for local authorities, landowners and communities. In recent weeks I have been dealing with a particularly concerning case involving the reported presence of giant hogweed in a public park in South Tipperary. This is a busy public amenity used daily by families, walkers, sports clubs, schools and children. This issue was reported many months ago yet there appears to have been uncertainty about who is responsible for co-ordination. Questions arose about who exactly is responsible for responding on the ground. Is it the council district office, the environmental section, the biodiversity officer, the National Parks and Wildlife Service or the Department of agriculture? While these questions remain unanswered the people continue to use these public spaces every day. That points to a much wider national issue. We do not have a sufficiently clear, consistent and co-ordinated approach across local authorities when it comes to invasive species management. Who takes operational control? Who co-ordinates the response? What happens when the infestation is on public land? What happens when it is on private land beside public infrastructure? How quickly are public safety measures implemented and what guidance exists for local authorities to ensure a uniform response nationwide? In the case of giant hogweed the dangers are very real. Contact with the plant can cause severe burns, blistering, long-term skin damage and eye injuries yet in some instances areas remain accessible to the public and without barriers or warning signage. Japanese knotweed presents another enormous challenge. It damages roads, footpaths, walls, drainage systems and property. It can severely impact development land and places huge costs on homeowners, councils and taxpayers alike. Communities often feel powerless when infestations spread across boundaries between public and private land, with no clear framework for enforcement or co-ordinated treatment. We need a national strategy that provides clarity and consistency. That means clear lines of responsibility within every local authority, proper co-ordination between biodiversity, environmental and district operations staff, national guidelines for treatment and containment, public awareness campaigns and, most importantly, adequate funding for early intervention because early action is far cheaper than long-term remediation. Biodiversity protection is not only about preserving what is native and thriving but also about managing what threatens it. If we truly value biodiversity, we must equip our local authorities and communities with the structures, resources and accountability needed to deal effectively with invasive species before these problems escalate even further.

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