Dún Chaoin gets ready for battle with ‘alien’ invader

THE worrying extent of the Japanese knotweed problem in the Dún Chaoin area was outlined to more than 60 locals who attended a meeting organised by Comharchumann Dhún Chaoin on Monday night as a first step towards forming a strategy to eradicate the highly invasive and destructive weed.

According to locals, Japanese knotweed has been present in the parish for at least 25 years but a recent ecological survey conducted for the Comharchumann by Cork-based O’Donovan Agri found that the alien weed has spread at an alarming rate and the infestation is now widespread.

Knotweed is now growing thickly along the banks of streams flowing from Gleann Loic, Baile na hAbha, Baile Bhíocaire and Baile an Ghleanna right down to the sea at Béal Átha, (near Ionad an Bhlascaoid) where it is even growing among the stones on the shore. In the Baile Bhíocaire area some houses have become completely surrounded by the weed, which can grow up through concrete and tarmac and is extremely destructive.

At Monday night’s meeting, experts from O’Donovan Agri presented the results of their survey, explained the dangers associated with knotweed, the ease with which it spreads, and discussed ways of tackling the infestation in Dún Chaoin.

Comharchumann Dhún Chaoin is spearheading the drive to rid the parish of knotweed and Cathaloirleach John Kennedy said the aim is to establish a five-year eradication programme which would target one infected area at a time.

There was general agreement at Monday night’s meeting in Ionad an Bhlascaoid Mhóir to proceed with a project to eradicate the knotweed, beginning next August with a limited attack on the weed to give people experience in the methods for dealing with it and to generate greater local interest in tackling the problem.

It is hoped to carry out the programme as a community project, under the auspices of the Comharchumann, and for this the cooperation of landowners and others with affected property will be vital, John said.

Funding will also be needed for an intensive eradication project and John said the Comharchumann hopes to get financial support under national and European environmental programmes.

Japanese knotweed was brought into Ireland as an ornamental plant in the 1800s and has become widespread throughout the country since then. In Japan the weed is kept under control by various fungi and insects that feed on it but in Ireland it has no natural enemies and spreads easily through its massive rhizome root system, outgrowing native plants and colonising entire areas.

Once established it is extremely difficult to eradicate because it is highly resistant to chemical weed killers and attempts to dig it up or cut it down often serve only to spread the weed further because even a tiny fragment of the plant or its roots will sprout and quickly form a new colony.

The advent of the JCB and the extensive earthworks that took place during the building boom greatly helped spread Japanese knotweed in West Kerry, and elsewhere, and it has now become a huge, and potentially very expensive, problem.

EU directives outline strict measures that landowners must take to notify authorities of its presence and control the spread of knotweed. However these directives have not yet been implemented by our government.

ABOVE: An old cottage engulfed by Japanese knotweed in Baile an Ghleanna, Dún Chaoin.

INSET: The green lines on this map indicate the extent to which Japanese Knotweed has spread along the banks of streams – from the mountains to the sea – in Dún Chaoin.