Japanese knotweed will take years to conquer

Galway County Council has promised to tackle the dreaded Japanese knotweed – most critically in areas where it is obstructing visibility on roads – but it could take years, and a small fortune, to rid the county of the plant pest.

This large, herbaceous perennial plant is non-native and is considered one of the most invasive plants in the western world.

Strimming or cutting it back in any way only further encourages the spread of this plant, which is basically a weed that can destroy other plant life.

It certainly exercised councillors attending the recent Connemara Municipal District meeting who were told by Director of Services, Liam Gavin, that the Council needed funding — and a lot of it — to tackle the problem in rural Galway.

Replying to Cllr Seán Ó Tuairisg who thought it would be a good project for a community employment scheme, Mr Gavin said that the removal of knotweed had to be done by professionals who knew what they were doing.

The chairman, Cllr Noel Thomas, a landscaper by profession, agreed telling his colleagues that the removal was a four to five year process and that those doing it had to be properly trained.

A number of councillors told of how the knotweed was so overgrown on some roads that visibility at bends was poor and that in the interests of road safety, those areas had to be prioritised.

Mr Gavin agreed and asked councillors to let them know of those particular areas so that they could be tackled first.

But Cllr Tom Welby wondered if it was the responsibility of the Council at all to remove knotweed.

Mr Gavin explained that landowners and the National Parks and Wildlife Services were on board.

Cllr Tom Healy informed the meeting that the English had a secretariat to deal with the issue and that the EU also had a directive about knotweed. It was a national problem, he said, and it needed a national response.

Cllr Tomas Ó Curraoin said he hadn’t known what it was when he saw it in his neighbour’s field first. Since it started encroaching on his property he enquired and was told it would take €700 for a professional to remove it.