COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 10, 2023

QUESTION NO. 12

QUESTION: Councillor K. Mahon

Can Manager comment on whether there there any contractual obligations that limit the Council's ability to ensure best practice by all sub contractors in terms of stopping the use of glyphosate?

REPLY:

The elected members of South Dublin County Council voted in July 2017 to adopt a partial ban on the use of glyphosate based herbicides and this partial ban continues to be enforced as intended in public parks, public gardens and in play spaces.  The Council's Public Realm section continues to seek ways to reduce the use of glyphosate in accordance with the relevant aims of the Pollinator, Biodiversity and Climate Action Plans. 

Glyphosate continues to be used to control the growth of weeds on hard surfaces, in particular the road sweeping contract which is performed by Oxigen Environmental Ltd includes a weed control programme which provides for the treatment and removal of weeds throughout the period April to September.  The terms of the road sweeping contract will enable the Council to move away from the use of glyphosate and demand the use of non-glyphosate treatment methods, once a suitable alternative method has been identified and tested to the satisfaction of the Council.  A number of alternative methods have been examined and trialled however none have been found to be suitable to date. The road sweeping contract will expire at the end of 2024 and will require to be retendered in the meantime, this will provide an opportunity in the coming 12 months for the position to be reviewed regarding the continued use of glyphosate or alternatively a move away from it's use to a proven alternative treatment system. There are currently no alternative methods in use by the Council or it's contractors, in areas where the partial ban on glyphosate applies the growth of weeds is managed by either hand removal or allowing weeds to grow in boundary areas where grass and weeds are allowed to grow long.