Provision of the design of a non-native and invasive species surveillance and monitoring programme for the island of Ireland

Surveillance and monitoring of invasive species in both Ireland and Northern Ireland is currently fragmented and not considered sufficient to meet the requirements of legal instruments and agreements. The National Biodiversity Data Centre in the Republic of Ireland and the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR) in Northern Ireland, are the two national record centres for biological data on the island of Ireland. While both receive and act as a repository for biological data, there are sources of information that are not routinely and/or timely reported to either organisation. In the case of the highest risk invasive non-native species, this creates undesirable and preventable barriers to understanding the distribution of invasive species across the island of Ireland, and in certain situations, delays response action when a species might be highly localised. This situation can impact on Ireland and Northern Ireland’s ability to effectively understand the true distribution of invasive species on the island of Ireland, with real world impacts on effective management and prevention measures. However, under the new Shared Island Biosecurity and Invasive Species Initiative, there is an opportunity to review current surveillance and monitoring programmes active in both jurisdictions and make recommendations on a new system that effectively and efficiently captures relevant data for Ireland and Northern Ireland.