Kerry County Council has said that a programme for the removal of ragwort from roadsides in the county is “not feasible”.
The local authority was responding to a motion from independent Kerry County Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae who said that ragwort is “rampant” this year on the side of public roads.
The management of noxious weeds, such as ragwort, and non-native invasive plant species on national roads is addressed under Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) guidelines.
Ragwort
The council said that ragwort is regarded as “a very persistent weed” and measures including cutting, hand pulling and chemical control all present challenges.
“Cutting can promote perennialization of ragwort, which will come back the following year more vigorously.
“Hand pulling is labour intensive and therefore not feasible in the context of the 4,881km of public road network being maintained by Kerry County Council.
“Chemical control would be carried out via broad spectrum herbicides which would also affect a number of other plant species and reduce biodiversity on our roadsides,” the council said.
Kerry County Council noted that ragwort “is a natural component of native grasslands and as such it has a number of biodiversity benefits” including providing nectar for pollinators.
However, the local authority acknowledged that the presence of ragwort on farmland is dangerous as it is toxic to livestock and can lead to illness or death in many types of farm animals.
“The control of ragwort is an issue countrywide and state agencies such as Teagasc give advice to landowners on how to manage the presence of the weed including through good grassland management such as optimal soil fertility which is not viable in a roadside setting,” it said.
“Having regard to the length of public road in charge and the challenges associated with its eradication as outlined, a programme for the removal of ragwort from our roadsides is not feasible.
“In addition, TII advised that they have no plan to treat ragwort as part of a national programme,” the council added.
Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae told Agriland that he has been contacted by farmers and the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) in recent weeks in relation to ragwort.
He said that farmers believe the weed is spreading onto their land from roadside verges which are maintained by Kerry County Council or TII.
“I believe that both those organisations have a responsibility to maintain what is in their charge, that goes for any noxious weeds, such as Japanese knotweed, or in this case, ragwort.
“For whatever reason, be it weather or whatever it is, this year we seem to have seen an explosion in the growth of ragwort.
“Farmers are contacting me that have ragwort on their land that never had it before,” he said.
Councillor Healy-Rae is unhappy with the response of Kerry County Council to his motion and wants a plan put in place for particular problem areas within the county.
He believes that similar to farmers, the council and TII also have a responsibility to ensure the removal of ragwort.
“Private landowners have a responsibility to maintain their land and to make sure that the noxious weeds aren’t growing within their land.
“You would very quickly have the department [of agriculture] writing out to farmers where there’s reports of noxious weeds growing on their land.
“It can’t be one rule for one and not the other. If there’s one rule for the private landowners, land that is within public ownership is to be treated the same way by those responsible for it and in this case that’s Kerry County Council and the TII.
“I believe that some plan will have to be put in place to look at particular pinch points where where the spread is occurring, very heavily,” Cllr. Healy-Rae said.