Sir, – Living in Co Kerry for the past seven years, I am shocked by the virulent spread of Japanese knotweed along the road to Dingle. There are entire stretches that have completely taken over the roadside. Enquiring from Kerry County Council I found that to date it has no strategy in dealing with the issue and, indeed, I witnessed its road crews actively spreading it by cutting it with hedge trimmers. Each tiny piece being capable of propagation. I was informed that there would unlikely be any funding for stopping its spread this year. With the accelerating spread of this plant the cost by next year could be ten times what it is this year.
In not dealing with the problem now, we are storing up costs for the future. – Yours, etc,
JANE JACKSON,
BSc (Hons) Env Studies,
Aughils,
Castlemaine, Co Kerry.