Noted as one of the “most contentious issues” in the town of Shannon, a new contractor has been assigned the task of carrying out grass-cutting in the area.

Prior to St Patrick’s Day, the 2021 grass cutting contract for the Shannon Municipal District was signed into effect and covers over 130 hectares of land. The company awarded the contract are from Tipperary having won a tender from the local authority.

Criticism of the manner in which grass cutting was carried out in public areas along verges with tufts of grass left behind has been a bone of contention for Shannon residents in recent years.

Better use of the contractors needs to be considered by the Shannon MD, Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) believed. “From October to February each year, it is five months for hedge cutting, I cannot understand why the contractor cannot be in place from September of each year to get full use of the contract, every year we’re scrambling into March and doing it under health and safety concerns”.

Importance of overseeing the works of the contracts was highlighted by Cllr PJ Ryan (IND). “One of the problems before was the company was based in Dublin, I don’t think they knew what was entailed in the job”.

Senior executive officer with the Shannon MD, Jason Murphy acknowledged it was “a very contentious issue year on year”. He said the local company were best placed to do the job and carrying out work in the neighbouring country for the local authority there “which means they have more crew so we’ve more confidence in them.

“They will have three crews in the Municipal District, this year they will lift the grass so it won’t be left on footpaths and it will improve the quality of the job. We are taking a different tact this year based on learnings,” he outlined. Monitoring of the company is ongoing, Murphy confirmed.