1690. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of funding provided, for the removal of Japanese knotweed; the number of incidents that have been treated; the number of incidents reported but not treated, by county for each of the years 2023 to 2025 and to date in 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56586/26]

My Department's National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is responsible for the implementation of the legislative framework around invasive alien species in Ireland, including the 2024 European Union (Invasive Alien Species) Regulations (SI 374/2024) which give effect to the EU IAS Regulation (1143/2014) in the national context.

Management and control of invasive alien species such as Japanese knotweed is a matter for landowners. While my Department carries out considerable work on controls in National Parks and Nature Reserves, it does not have the resources or the powers required to extend such work into urban areas or the wider countryside. Much of the work in tackling Japanese knotweed happens at local level and is carried out by local authorities in their areas through their own biodiversity action plans.

The Local Biodiversity Action Fund, operated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, supports a diverse range of local authority-led projects, and many of these projects deal with invasive alien species control.

I have attached a table listing Local Biodiversity Action Fund projects which included a control/eradication of Japanese knotweed element over the period 2023 to 2026.