Mr. James Walsh:

First, something like what is done in Holland would be a very good direct alternative in getting rid of the grass growing out of kerbs. There should probably be a task force designated just for that, perhaps in every city and town. Guys used to go around in vans with shovels, hoes and strimmers and used to go along the kerbs, like they do in Holland. They jump out of their vans and clear the weeds along the kerbs. They might do ten estates in a day or something. Other than that, maybe the foam would work. I do not know how well it works in Dún Laoghaire, but lots of countries are able to do that and to keep places clear of weeds. You do not see weeds growing there. They do that without herbicides. Holland is therefore probably a good country to look at to see how this is done. I am not sure about Foamstream. In some areas there are still a lot of weeds growing, even though Foamstream is used. The cost of it is probably another reason. The councils probably do not have that many machines for it running at any one time. It is like anything else. I have talked to different golf courses as well. Some golf courses do not use any pesticides and some do. The ones that do not use pesticides said it is all down to daily labour. People maintain the courses every day by mechanical, manual ways and there is no need for pesticides then. If, however, nobody maintains the courses, weeds will grow. This can be done by alternative means, but somebody has to do it mechanically and manually or else the weeds will just grow. It might require extra workers. I do not know.

Second, and very importantly, I spoke earlier about a way to eradicate the practice of private users spraying public areas. It is a matter of making them aware in the shops from which they are buying the herbicides with signs stating that that is illegal.