Japanese Knotweed Ireland
Japanese Knotweed is an invasive plant that is slowly but surely invading Ireland. Japanese Knotweed is one of Ireland’s most unwanted species and it poses both huge environmental and economic threats.
It is one of the fastest growing and most destructive plants and the speed at which it has spread throughout Ireland is nothing short of extraordinary.



It is being warned that planning permission could soon be refused for houses and other buildings on lands in Ireland infested by Japanese Knotweed.

In the UK the impacts of having Japanese Knotweed on your property are serious, planning permission is already being turned down, the value of property is falling and in some cases, it is not possible to sell your property until the Japanese Knotweed infestation is brought under control.
More than 200,000 homes in the UK have the invasive plant, and on finding any weak spot can grow through all kinds of hard surfaces, including brick, tarmac and concrete, and in some cases has been known to undermine the very foundations of a property.
Japanese knotweed in Ireland and the law
Currently, Regulations 49 and 50 of the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 make it an offence to:
- Plant, disperse, allow dispersal or cause the spread of Japanese knotweed.
- Keep the plant in possession for the purpose of sale, breeding, reproduction, propagation, distribution, introduction or release.
- Keep anything from which the plant can be reproduced or propagated from without a granted licence.
- Keep any vector material, in this case soil or spoil taken from Japanese knotweed, for the purposes of breeding, distribution, introduction or release.