Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca has proposed that Wicklow County Council require the use of environmentally cement in all of the contracts that it puts out to tender.

Cllr de Burca is a member of the council’s Environment and Water Strategic Policy Committee. At a recent meeting of the committee she pointed out that the use of several new types of cement, which can replace traditional cement in concrete-making, will cut down significantly on the release of CO₂ and energy-use in its manufacture.

“CO₂ is one of the leading greenhouse gases causing global warming and climate change” says de Burca. “Almost one tonne of CO₂ is created through the manufacture of one tonne of traditional cement. Only 60kg of CO₂ are created in the manufacture of one tonne of ‘environmentally-friendly’ cement”.

De Burca says that no incentives exist at present to encourage local councils to use environmentally- friendly cement in construction and building projects. “This is despite the fact that the Office of Public Works has introduced a policy on the use of such cement in its own construction projects” she says. “The serious threat of climate change has not gone away despite the fact that it did not feature much as an issue in the recent General Election. We must all play our part in doing what we can to reduce our emissions, particularly local councils. The use of environmentally-friendly cement is one simple way of doing this”.

The Green Party councillor supported a recommendation by the Environment Committee to Wicklow County Council that the use of a certain percentage of environmentally-friendly cement be required in all of the new contracts that it puts out to tender. She says that she hopes this policy will be adopted by the full council in the near future.