COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 14, 2020

QUESTION NO.7

QUESTION: Councillor Teresa Costello

To ask the Chief Executive to confirm if the Council has ceased using glyphosate based products to remove weeds. Furthermore to ask what is being used as a replacement and has this had any impact on Council work practices of the removal of weeds.

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council carries out weed control in connection with its grass cutting, road sweeping and village cleaning and maintenance operations. The elected members of the Council passed a motion in May 2017 banning any use of glyphosate in or close to public parks, public playgrounds and public gardens.  This ban has been implemented by Public Realm Operations since its adoption.  Where the use of glyphosate based weed killer is not permitted in the locations mentioned the Council utilises alternative methods of weed control and these range from identifying areas where weed control can cease completely to utilising other methods such as weed removal by hand.  In addition, trials have been carried out on the use of non-glyphosate based weed killer, however the results obtained have not been considered a success.  SDCC staff have also attended trials on the use of hot foam and hot water-based weed control techniques carried out by other local authorities, however while these techniques may be suitable for confined areas they have been deemed to be not suitable for the purpose of public realm maintenance on a large scale. 

Weed control along public roads, footpaths and in roadside margins presents a specific problem due to the nature of the task at hand.  The Council maintains close to 1,000km of roads including main roads, housing estate roads and industrial estate roads.  Labour intensive methods of weed control are not appropriate to this task, such is the volume of work involved.  The Council's road sweeping contractor, Oxigen Environmental, therefore continues to use a glyphosate-based weed killer to deliver the weed control element of their contract. The contractors staff engaged in this work are required to be highly trained in the task, are required to use the appropriate equipment including PPE and are also required to be registered with the Dept of Agriculture as a professional user of pesticides in accordance with the Sustainable Use Directive. The Council meets regularly in relation to the provision of services under this contract and monitors all relevant matters including the weed control element of the contract.

It would therefore not be currently feasible to omit use of glyphosate from all future contracts, though this Council will continue in its efforts to reduce the use of glyphosate in its weed control operations and in keeping with the National Pollinator and National Biodiversity Plans.