Pesticide use down 46% in Mayo since 2015 despite 'pressure'

Mayo County Council has reduced its pesticide use by 46 per cent in 2025 compared to 2015 levels, figures have revealed.

Councillors welcomed the reduction but called for further progress, with several members raising concerns about the health and environmental impact of continued pesticide use.

Councillor Harry Barrett commended the council's biodiversity report but questioned the volume of pesticides being applied to treat Japanese knotweed.

He pointed to a proven link between certain pesticides and cancer, and asked why the council was treating knotweed in more rural areas and questioned whether it was causing more harm than good.

Councillor Peter Flynn said the public had come a long way in understanding biodiversity and welcomed the reduction.

He called on the council to go further, warning that pesticide byproducts were increasingly finding their way into waterways.

"We’re all using water more, not just for drinking but leisure as well," he said, urging continued progress.

Councillor Gerry Murray said pesticide manufacturers were a powerful lobbying force who worked hard to maintain usage levels.

He said a growing number of illnesses had been linked to pesticides and warned that elected representatives were under pressure from corporate interests to sustain their use.

He said organic and more sustainable alternatives existed but that companies producing them faced significant obstacles.

Councillor Seán Carey welcomed the reduction and raised the issue of invasive species including rhododendron and wild gunnera, particularly in west Mayo.

He said good progress had been made on rhododendrons in Ballycroy but that gunnera remained difficult to tackle in his own area of Erris and he called for a community-based scheme to address it.

* Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.