Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ms Cahill and Mr. Callery are very welcome. I will focus first on their opening statement, which is welcome and represents great progress. I am from the neighbouring county council area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. Since 2016 onwards, there have been many similarities between what my council and Wicklow County Council have been doing. I am familiar with the work of my council. It is great to read about the work of Wicklow County Council. I commend it on the work it has done.

On the AIPP, which is of interest to me, the witnesses highlighted two of the objectives it contains. In particular, they referred to making public land pollinator friendly. Can they elaborate on how that is being done? Mr. Callery mentioned the Let’s Get Buzzing event and a few other initiatives. He specifically mentioned pollinator-friendly corridors, the use of which we need to encourage. One can work in that regard with communities and Tidy Towns groups, both of which are very in tune with this and want to see this progress. On the other side of the equation, and this is something the committee has discussed, are the complaints that the council also probably receives because a pollinator-friendly corridor may look a little bit more untidy to what people may have become used to. Where signage is put up, people understand what is being done and may be encouraged to participate as a result. Can I ask the witnesses comment on that matter?

On the use of chemicals and glyphosate, when mentioning the products and equipment to control weeds and clean hard surfaces, our guests specifically referred to the hiring of contractors. Let us be honest. There is a cost associated with this. It is cheaper and possibly quicker to use a chemical-based approach, but there are obviously long-term effects, whereas the cost of hiring a contractor for two days may have an immediate effect but does not have the same long-lasting effect of the weeds growing back in the next growth season. Can the witnesses comment on the costs in that regard? We need that information because we want to see this kind of initiative rolled out across the country. As the Chairman stated, this has come to us through Mr. Walsh and the work he has undertaken. Thankfully, our engagement with local authorities seems to be that they are all on the same page here. That is good news. We have to talk about the cost and the circumstances in which it is prohibitive. I understand what our witnesses are saying about circumstances where a chemical-based solution has to be used because I can see the relevant information on the application form they sent to us in advance. How many applications to use chemicals have been submitted and what level of chemicals are being used in spite of all of the good efforts that have been made?

I have many other questions on these issues, but I will leave it at those for moment. I will come back in later.