Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Public representatives and members of the public want to see weeds controlled where possible. They do not want the place to look untidy. To use Mr. Walsh's analogy, people are not looking for golf course quality, but ultimately, they do not want the place to fall into wrack and ruin. A balance is to be struck. Where local authorities could use products that are not harmful to the environment, humans or animals, we need to make sure that they do so. Alternative methods such as hot foam are fine, but we also need to encourage local authorities to explore other options. I am not necessarily hearing that from Mr. Walsh.

Maybe to follow from today, the committee could write to the Department and find out first how many inspections have been happening. I heard what was said about Cork but I am suspicious that it is because of Mr. Walsh's activity that Cork was inspected last year. We need to find out how many inspections are done annually and also what kind of promotion and experiments are being done with non-chemically based products. We should find this out from the Department and then maybe we could engage with Mr. Walsh and others in a little while again.

I thank the witness again for his attendance and answering the queries. Well done.