Farmers have till New Years Eve to purchase standard timber preservative creosote, as it will likely be banned from Irish cabinets from January 1.
new regulation, which was handed at EU stage, prohibits the sale and use of creosote merchandise to deal with agricultural/equine fencing.
Going ahead, creosote will solely be permitted to be used on wooden used for railway sleepers and telecommunication poles.
Till now, it has been used to deal with almost 60pc of agricultural fencing whereas it has additionally been used for staking of fruit timber.
The ultimate date for skilled customers to make use of creosote merchandise for therapy of fencing is February 28, 2023.
The enforcement of the brand new regulation lies with the Division of Agriculture which has mentioned shops, retailers and importers should be certain that all shares of creosote product are offered to skilled end-users or else returned to their provider, by December 31, 2022.
“From April 30, 2023, it will likely be prohibited to put available on the market and promote agricultural/equine fencing that has been handled with creosote.
“Shares of creosote handled timber not offered by this date could also be topic to destruction as hazardous waste or topic to re-export outdoors of the EU.
“All timber fencing posts bought for grant-aided fencing should be handled and authorized in accordance with I.S. 436.”
Classed as a carcinogen, creosote has been beneath overview for various years and the European Chemical compounds Company (ECHA) performed a public session and overview on its use.
Within the case of agricultural/ equine fencing, 18 out of a complete of 21 submissions throughout public consultations indicated assist for this use.
It’s understood Eire submitted data and a justification to the Fee for the continued use of creosote for agricultural fencing pending an appropriate different.
Nevertheless, no different member state put ahead a justification for the continued use of treating agricultural fencing.