Illegal invasive plant species found for sale in Ireland

Several high-risk invasive plants that are illegal to sell in Ireland have been found for sale to Irish shoppers.

An environmental scientist has said it is "time for action" to remove these plants and enforce the law.

Assistant professor of environmental horticultural in UCD Dr Noeleen Smyth told RTÉ's This Week that several banned plants are easily found for sale online and in trade shows.

Since 2024, Spanish bluebells are one of 34 invasive plant species that are illegal to sell, breed or transport due to the risk they pose to native species under both Irish and EU law.

However, Dr Smyth was easily able to find Spanish bluebells for sale, despite the damage they can cause to the Irish variant.

Dr Smyth explained that because Irish bluebells are locally rare and cannot be dug up where they are growing naturally, it is very hard to buy the Irish variant, while the illegal Spanish variant was easily found available for sale online to Irish gardeners.

"It's kind of like an extinction we don't even see," Dr Smyth said.

"Our local species is becoming extinct, but we look out and all we see is bluebell."

Penalties for breaching these restrictions include a fine up to €100,000 and up to two years in prison under the European Union (Invasive Alien Species) Regulations 2024.

Dr Smyth said the act is very strong but more enforcement of it is needed.

Other illegal plants available for sale

Spanish bluebells aren't the only illegal plant species that Dr Smyth was able to find for sale in Ireland.

Carpobrotus edulis, commonly known as the hottentot fig, is a shiny pink and yellow flower native to South Africa.

Several years ago, Dr Smyth was part of a team that worked to eradicate the shiny pink and yellow flower in areas where it had become invasive in Howth in Dublin as well as other areas along the south-east coast.

"We had a good go at eradicating it from Howth," she said.

"But unless you get every last fragment of it, it will grow back. It's a weedy species. There's still bits of it out in Howth."

Dr Smyth was able to find it for sale in less than five minutes of searching online and she had previously seen it for sale under a different false name, in plant shows last year.

"I know the plant well, but it can be sold under different names," she said.

"So, if somebody says, 'Carpobrotus edulis is on the list [of banned invasives]', they can say 'Well, I'm not selling Carpobrotus edulis, I'm selling mesembryanthemum.'"

Only an expert in horticulture, such as Dr Smyth, would be confident in identifying the plant.

In a statement to This Week, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) said: "The importation and retail of listed invasive species, including under false names, is an offence under Irish and EU law, as being highly irresponsible due to the damage it can cause to native species and ecosystems, and the significant costs to economy."

It added that a new body will be formed - the Invasive Species Bureau - to develop a national management strategy for invasive alien species

But plant seller, Oliver Schurmann - who runs the Mount Venus Nursery in Dublin - is sceptical that removing invasive plants from sale will make a difference although he has removed the banned species for sale in his own nursery.

"I'd say [the law] is going a little bit too far in many ways," he said.

"Nurseries throughout the country have been growing plants and they have been distributed already all over the country ... the damage has already been done. If you call it damage.

"We're indifferent about it because we're plant collectors. We love plants. We embrace all plants from all parts of the world.

"I do enjoy the natural flora and how it grows and the ecosystems, but we are in a time of climate change and if we only preserve what's growing well in Ireland now and we end up with far higher temperatures, a lot of these species will actually disappear."

Spread of invasive plants in Ireland

Óisín O'Neill, nature advocacy officer with the Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes the 2024 act but says that more species need to be added to the list.

"There is an ongoing problem where there are highly invasive species that aren't on that list of banned plants," he said.

"Thankfully rhododendron, Japanese knotweed and other harmful plants are regulated, but unfortunately many still are not."

Mr O'Neill said the cherry laurel is of particular concern.

"It's the second most common non-native shrub found in Irish woodlands after the infamous rhododendron ponticum," he said.

The Irish Wildlife Trust is calling for a more pro-active approach from the State in identifying and naming high-risk invasive plant species.

The NPWS is currently undertaking a risk-assessment on cherry laurel. This is the first step the plant being added to the invasive species list.

However, Mr O'Neill says this process is too slow and the science on the impact of the cherry laurel has been settled for at least six years.

"We are living in a time of biodiversity collapse and ecosystem collapse globally and in Ireland.

"In Ireland, our nature, our native ecosystems have really, really been pushed to the edge," he said.

Mr O'Neill called for more urgency and productivity from Government on invasive plant species adding that delay now will cost the taxpayer more in the future.

"Cherry laurel, this plant that is not on the list, millions of euros of taxpayer money has already been spent trying to remove this plant from special areas of conservation, such as Coolgarry Land and Glen of the Downs," he said.

"So, on the one hand, the government is spending millions removing a plant from these areas and at the same time it is legally sold in garden centres. This is quite crazy."

The NPWS spends millions of euros each year trying to control invasive species on the properties it manages.

Last year, investment in invasive plant species control measures across NPWS sites amounted to €3.8 million.

In 2024, NPWS funding for invasive plant control measures was over €4.4 million.

These figures don't include any costs arising from day-to-day management, measures financed through the Local Biodiversity Action Fund or any animal-related invasive species management

Greater enforcement of existing laws is required, Mr O'Neill said but added it is not enough to ban certain invasive species. The Irish Wildlife Trust is calling for ring-fenced multi-annual funding for invasive species management.

Other species that Mr O'Neill said he'd like to see included on the list of invasive plant species are montbrecia and fuchsia.

"In Cork and Kerry, many of the hedgerows have been completely taken over by fuchsia, which is very visually attractive, but they support far lower biodiversity value compared to native hedgerows," he said.

"When invasive species spread, they push out the native species and severely damage local ecosystems."

Dr Smyth agrees that the process of adding plant species onto the invasive list should be faster.

Biodiversity loss

Ireland already has more non-native plants recorded on its shores than Irish ones.

Native plant species in Ireland had declined by 56% over the last 20 years. Over the same time, non-native abundance has increased by 80%.

Dr Smyth said that unlike animal invasive species, when it comes to plants "the enemy is within".

"We grow nearly 70,000 things in our gardens," Dr Smyth said.

"It's not the things that are going to get us from out there, it's the things that are already here and spreading."

As Ireland's climate changes due to human-induced global warming, new and different plant species will be able to grow and thrive here.

However, Dr Smyth says it is a mistake to think this will increase the amount of biodiversity in the county.

"A lot of the gardens around Donegal, Kerry and Killarney, like these would have been the first to host some of these wonderful exotic rhododendrons.

"And that has resulted in rhododendron superponticum taking over.

"From all of these exotic plantings of rhododendron, we didn't end up with a huge array of wonderful rhododendrons.

"We ended up with one thuggish rhododendron that's taken over ... we ended up with biomonotony."

She added: "Invasive species, they dominate, they don't let other things live near them."

The NPWS said that "significant progress" has been made in removing rhododendron ponticum at Killarney National Park.