Limerick resident seeks glyphosate ban

A CONCERNED Limerick resident is calling for the banning of glyphosate, a harmful toxin used in weedkillers.

Katie Baseman who lives in Limerick city is urging Limerick City and County Council (LCCC) to follow the footsteps of other local authorities such as Cork and Dublin and ban the toxic chemical as there is “a lot of misinformation going around” about glyphosate.

Glyphosate is a harmful chemical that, when ingested, can cause throat irritation, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. The chemical has also been linked to Parkinson’s Disease and is a potential carcinogenic, however, according to the US EPA, the toxin is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans”.

Ms Baseman is looking for the weedkiller to be banned except in special circumstances including the controlling of invasive species such as Japanese Knotweed.

Green Party councillor for Limerick City East, Sean Hartigan has made two attempts to call for the banning of glyphosate at council meetings over the last number of months, receiving no support.

At the September meeting of the Metropolitan District of Limerick, Mr Hartigan moved that LCCC should introduce a total ban on the use of glyphosate or other toxic chemical pesticides by council staff and contractors, except in exceptional circumstances, such as control of alien invasive species.

It was agreed to refer this Notice of Motion to the Climate Action, Biodiversity and Environment Strategic Policy Committee the following month.

However, at that meeting, no member of the committee was willing to second the motion.

Ms Baseman says she has asked Green Party members in Cork as to how they managed to get a motion passed on the banning of glyphosate. She was told they had a lot of “public support” behind them.

“There was a lot of information about glyphosate handed out, and they had media information circulating and people got together and said that they didn’t want this anymore,” Ms Baseman said.

Geophysical survey carried out off the west coast

“I’m trying to raise awareness here (in Limerick) because I don’t feel that we have that same support here,” she added.

A breakdown of the usage of glyphosate was revealed at the September meeting of the Metropolitan District.

“The council wishes to advise that weed spraying is no longer permitted in the annual grass-cutting contract. Strimming is the method of weed removal for this contract. This has been in place for the last two years. The council also wishes to advise that weed spraying is not carried out in the Council’s various Parks throughout the city and county. Every possible effort has been made to minimise the use of glyphosate,” a spokesperson for the council's Parks Department said.

Even though the Parks Department is trying to minimise the use of glyphosate, the amount used annually has been consistently rising since 2019.

The annual usage now stands at over 600 litres of glyphosate.