Some people in my constituency refer to the Japanese knotweed as the coffee plant, as the Minister of State will know. I am sure the Minister must be very familiar with this plant because I read one of Michael Viney's articles in The Irish Times a number of weeks ago in which he said it is along the highways and byways of County Clare. This could be the ecological plague of the 21st century. It would be devastating if it got into our national heritage areas or our national parks.
Does the Minister realise that in the UK it is illegal to plant this weed and that in Wales, there are knotweed inspectors whose job it is to identify and exterminate it? Is the Minister aware that Philadelphia spends £1 million per year eradicating it from the public parks there? If it was to get into some of our heritage areas, it would be devastating. I ask the Minister that everything possible is done to keep it out of these areas.
It is growing very close to the national park in Glenveagh. It travels with soil. People dig up soil, throw it here and there and it hitchhikes its way along the roads and even along river banks. One centimetre of it is enough to cover acres if it is given time. It is taken seriously in Wales, England and America and I hope it will be taken just as seriously here because, as I said, it could be an ecological disaster – a plague – if it is allowed to spread. We should nip it in the bud.