By Ryan Sands
THE Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has confirmed it is investigating an error that led to some local road verges being sprayed with weedkiller.
This confirmation came in response to a statement issued by the Dolmens Climate Action Network (DCAN), a local environmental group, which had highlighted “extensive herbicide spraying on road verges across Newcastle, Castlewellan, and Dundrum”.
The departmental statement said: “DfI is aware that an error while spraying weeds has resulted in the treatment of some areas in County Down that had not been identified as needing treatment.
“The department is concerned at the environmental impact of this spraying treatment, and is currently taking forward an investigation into the incident to prevent any further reoccurrence.
“The department is a member of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) and takes this role seriously, and is actively changing practices in line with the plan to support the environment and biodiversity.”
The DCAN statement began by saying that “local people cannot have failed to note the extensive herbicide spraying on road verges across Newcastle, Castlewellan, and Dundrum”, which it stated had turned “lush green verges into yellow dead zones along our most scenic roads, raising significant concerns about its detrimental environmental impact”.
“The indiscriminate use of herbicides has resulted in the devastating destruction of numerous wildflower verges that had been a hive of activity for pollinators, insects and biodiversity more broadly,” it read.
“Roads that have been sprayed with herbicides that now appear scorched, burnt and monochrome include, but are not limited to, Ardilea Road, Bryansford Road, Ballylough Road, Church Road, Dromara Road, Hilltown Road, the ‘Welcome to Newcastle’ roundabout, and Wateresk Road, as well as many other roads across the district too numerous to report.”
The statement raised concerns that DfI’s adherence to ‘No Mow May’ had been “undermined by what seems to be actions resulting in ‘Wipeout June’”, and that the department had contravened their AIPP membership.
It also included a call for “immediate attention and action from local councillors and DfI”.
“Members want an explanation for the extensive use of herbicides and to prevent future destructive use of herbicides,” the statement added.
“They want every public body to encourage integrated pollinator-friendly management of road verges, and enact a programme for reestablishing wildlife along road verges to restore the beauty in and around the Mournes.”
Sally Montgomery, a member of the group, said they were “bewildered and distraught at the destruction”.
“It feels like going back in time; I thought we were long past the time when we sprayed any poison in public,” she added.
“Not only are these chemicals hazardous to human health, the herbicides risk getting into waterways and into the food chain, but it looks terrible.
“Worst of all, it is destroying habitat, the very thing that other parts of government are fighting to protect and enhance.
“It really feels like the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing”.
Her group colleague Declan Owens, who is the founder of the Dundrum-based organisation Ecojustice Ireland, stated that “we are in a biodiversity crisis in this country and this practice is a form of ecocide”.
“We need a consciousness shift within society, regarding our relationship with nature, to help to regenerate our precious natural resources,” he said.
“Therefore, eradicating this poisonous practice will certainly aid this process and help to restore our reverence of nature.”
South Down Alliance MLA Andrew McMurray confirmed that he was contacted by constituents who had “raised concerns regarding the issue of verges being scarred brown”.
“The extent of roadside that has been treated this way is very extensive and to a much greater extent than has ever been seen in recent years,” he stated.
“Indeed, some areas that had been cultivated as areas of wildflowers have effectively been destroyed.
“The concern is that some of the weedkiller products are based on a particular chemical that has serious ecological and biodiversity impacts.
“Pollinators are incredibly important to the natural cycle, and the use of certain weedkillers can lead to their declining numbers.
“There is also the concern that these chemicals then run into the watercourses through the drains and gullies, which in turn has a knock-on effect on the aquatic life in these habitats.”
The local representative highlighted that support for the AIPP included “a commitment to exploring the use of alternatives to pesticides on the road networks”.
“If, as it seems likely, that herbicides have been used in this manner in such an excessive way, then this is regrettable and should be questioned,” he said.
