Offaly councillor describes as 'virtue signalling' the discontinued use of Glyphosate

COUNCILLOR Neil Feighery said that the decision to discontinue the use of glyphosate by Offaly County Council was to some extent 'virtue signalling.'

Offaly County Council banned the weed killer for its own use in 2022. At this month's meeting of Tullamore Municipal District, Cllr Feighery said he and some other councillors had not been in favour of banning it at the time.

The Fine Gael Councillor said he came from an agricultural background and the quantities of glyphosate used in the district 'would be miniscule' compared to agriculture. He said alternatives such as hot foam are not as effective.

''We really need to examine and look at that. We are facing another growing season. If we are not in a position to use glyphosate it is going to prove very difficult and put huge pressure on staff and resources and we are not getting the same results. We need to be more practical going forward because certainly there are areas across the county that need treatment. If the county is going to introduce something like that, it needs to be accompanied by additional resources and outdoor staff to deal with additional labour,'' said Cllr Feighery.

Councillor Tony McCormack said as far as he was aware the glyphosate policy was brought in on a trial basis. ''I think we would have no problem with it being amended going forward. It's becoming impossible to keep everything under control,'' he said.

Offaly Biodiversity Officer Ricky Whelan said, it was ''a pretty new policy within the county and the problems are starting to show themselves now. Unfortunately there aren't really that many alternatives. In Tullamore they have the steamer but it will only go so far. Vinegar has been offered as a solution but to be honest if you spray enough vinegar in a place it poisons all the soil. There aren't really great alternatives.''

However, Mr Whelan continued, '' Nationally when I go to conferences, there are people bragging about it and talking about how Offaly has adopted it. And they are using it as a precedent to get it through in their own county. It is seen as very forward looking and forward thinking in terms of what we have done in Offaly.

Sometimes you just have to be a little bit brave or thick necked until people get used to it.

We can look at it when the new council meets again. We still allow it to be used for invasive species,'' he added.

Director of services Tom Shanahan said there has been a lot of learning regarding new products. ''We will see much better results in the coming year notwithstanding the challenges.'' he said.