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Irish authorities have sprayed thousands of litres of a weedkiller suspected to cause cancer.

Similar levels of the possible carcinogen glyphosate were used last year and in 2018, despite successful legal action that linked the substance with cancer in the USA.

More than 5,000 litres of the weedkiller are spread here a year, according to an access to information on the Environment Regulation request by The Sunday Times.

Of the local authorities surveyed, Waterford bought the largest amount of weedkiller containing the herbicide in 2017 and 2018 but plans to phase out usage over the next two years.

Donegal County Council was the second highest user of the herbicide followed by Tipperary and Limerick.

Dublin City Council reported that they had spread over 500 litres of weedkiller containing the herbicide between January 2017 and May 2018 but had since switched to an alternative.

Irish officials use the weedkiller to deweed local parks and playing fields despite the UN International Agency for Research on Cancer saying it was “probably carcinogenic” in 2015.

However, the EU authorities renewed the licence for the substance two years later and consider it safe although an EU safety investigation into the product is ongoing.

There are currently thousands of legal cases being taken in America against the manufacturers of Roundup which contains glyphosate with users claiming it led to their cancer diagnosis.