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InvestigatesSoil InvadersTEN YEARS AGO, rhododendron in the Knockmealdown Mountains hit the headlines as being a problem when a couple in their 50s got stuck in a very dense forest of it and had to be rescued.
This plant covers much of this area and visitors go there to see the pink blanket of flowers when they bloom every summer.
“People come from all over the country just to witness it,” local Liam Fleming from Clogheen in Co Tipperary told The Journal Investigates.
To encourage people to do more than drive through and take a photo, Fleming and an organising committee set up the Rhododendron Walking Festival which runs every June.
Tipperary County Council supports the walking festival with a community grant. At the same time the council is spending thousands each year tackling invasive species.
As well as guided walks, this event attracts walkers with “delicious food and entertainment… and of course the stunning scenery especially with the rhododendrons in full bloom”, according to one of its social media posts.
But though it looks pretty, this is one of the most invasive species impacting rural Ireland. Without management, it forms dense dark thickets, outcompeting native trees such as oak and hazel.
“Yes it’s beautiful. Yes it’s a tourist attraction in places,” according to the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s webpage on the plant, but “it severely impacts on many of our woodland and bog areas” and “slowly kills our woodlands”.
Not only are they bad for our local ecosystems, it was estimated over ten years ago that invasive and non-native species cost the Irish and Northern Irish economy €261m a year.
Management of invasive species, including rhododendron, are a huge financial drain on councils and public bodies.
Over €245k was spent by Tipperary Co Co alone on the management of invasive species over a four-year-period from July 2020 to August 2024.
From records we obtained through an Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) request, this was mainly on the spraying of Japanese knotweed.
When asked about helping to fund a festival named after such an invasive species, the council did not respond in time for publication.
Neither the council nor the festival organisers would detail the amount of money given to the festival, but Fleming said that it was “very little” and most of their funding comes from walkers.
Is the festival celebrating the rhododendron? Fleming said that they have “done plenty of workshops to educate people” about the plant.
That includes a ‘Leave No Trace’ programme where they tell attendees not to spread seeds and to wash boots after they come out of an area, he added.
“Even in our own area, most people wouldn’t be aware that they’re an invasive species. We’ve educated a lot more people.”
Fleming is not aware of any active rhododendron eradication programme in the area where the walks are run. “A variety of stakeholders” would need to be consulted for this to happen, he said.
The walking festival developed from a community enterprise, Siul Eile, whose aim is to bring communities together to form walking programs and challenges.
Fleming said that people “come on walks but were coming back for the social connection”, something he said was often gone in rural Ireland.
Our full Soil Invaders series on the impact of invasive plants is out now >>
Reporter & Editor: Maria Delaney • Additional Research: Anthea Lacchia • Social Media: Sadbh Cox
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Headd of Europols cybercrime unit is called Troels. Brilliant.
All these agencies have yet to knowledge that no amount of enforcement in any country on this planet has ever eradicated one illicit drug from existence.
Kind of defeats the purpose of this failed war on drugs
No amount of enforcement in any country on the planet has ever eradicated any crime from existence. Should we just stop enforcing laws?
Award for the stupidest argument against drug prosecution, well done!
How about the fact that it’s been proved increased spending does not affect drug consumption and supply. This is from a recent NACDA study just out.
Close one down, up pops another one. Do you want the net policed?
Where are a few of your bookmarks got rid of?
Tor browser is not really used for encryption has there are unencrypted links in the web. It’s strength is that it sends data through a huge network so that it is hard to trace data and therefore find out who is connecting to what.
Re Darren
Wasn’t there an investigative piece last year on Tor which showed that the NSA backed it and it was in fact the complete opposite of what it was supposed to be. It tracked everything.
Yes it’s used for encryption. The connection between you and the entry node is encrypted as are the hops between the entry node and the exit node. Otherwise your ISP would see exactly what you are doing. It’s only the connection between the exit node and the server that’s not always encrypted, but that’s fine because traffic source at that stage cannot be identified.
Precisely my point. At the last exit point the tor network the data is unencrypted and potentially can be viewed at the point but not tracked.
have a read its about the history of Tor http://pando.com/2014/07/16/tor-spooks/ no wonder they found them, probably just starting to hurt their own arms and drugs sales.
I think you are underestimating the importance of the encryption. It protects you from ISP snooping. Something the Tor network cannot do without the encryption.
Both admins of sr1 & sr2 were found through their own arrogance and stupidity they weren’t traced through TOR. Blake bentall or “defcon” (sr2) gave a undercover cop admin privileges months ago and through that uc they were able to link an email address and ip leaks to this clown. He also made the news by being the first person to buy a Tesla car for 100k paid for with bitcoin!
Would love to dabble and look around the dark net. All the above board stuff though…
I wouldn’t, that kind of stuff sounds seriously nasty.
Such as Facebook?
run away, The evil drugs might get you!!
Drugs I couldn’t give a toss about,it’s having to interact with ‘tards that bothers me.
They should do something about the pedo sites on dark net , I saw a doc on netflix and it showed a screen shot from one of the forums and it made me wanna throw up, the topic was entitled ” best drugs to use to put my niece to sleep while I touch her ” loads of advice and encouragement from other sickos, forget the drugs get the pedos!
Great work by law agencies today. Fantastic. But there’ll probably be more violence on the streets because that’s where people will buy now and buy drugs of lesser quality. The wheel keeps on turning. The only way to win the war on drugs is to legalise and have the state control it. Pump tax money into hospitals clinics education. Rid the scourge on the world once and for all. Even still people will still buy them.
2 out of 17 arrests worldwide were made in Ireland. Disproportionately high?
This is where Fine Gael procures its shill contracts
400 sites 17 arrests 1 years work with police forces across the world. Good job. And don’t mention the follow up arrests, they said that the first time they took down silk Road and the arrests never happened.
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