Full Council: 19 October 2020

Motion: That given the very positive glyphosate phase-out pilot that took place across the county this year, the Parks Department outlines plans for rolling out these actions to all public areas in the coming year with a view to the elimination of glyphosate use as standard practice by 2022.

Report: Twenty pilot sites were used in 2020 to pilot glyphosate phase out and introduce a pollinator friendly approach to grass maintenance by reducing mowing. It is proposed to continue these in 2021 and to roll this out to additional sites. In addition, where glyphosate is being used, it is proposed to reduce the strength of glyphosate concentrate on sites also.

Discussions with NUI Maynooth on a research project to investigate alternative weed control methods to Glyphosate are ongoing. This would run for 4 years and cost approximately €40k over that timeframe. If glyphosate use is to be phased out by 2022 this will involve the use of strimming as an alternative. The cost of this is €65k per annum and would require an additional budget to be able to do this.

Issued by: Mr S Wallace, Senior Executive Parks Superintendent.