Roads, footpaths and lighting on meeting agenda

AT a lengthy monthly meeting of Kilkee Town Council on Monday, which included 13 motions from six of the nine town councillors, it became clear that members are unhappy at the lack of progress in repairing roads, footpaths and public lights in the town.

Fine Gael town councillor Karen Reilly asked town engineer Derek Troy if it would be possible to “put some kind of reflective paint on the extra sections that were added to the footpaths last year”.
Describing the additions to some footpaths in Kilkee as “build-ons,” Mr Troy said the additions to the footpaths are part of traffic-calming measures.
After a long discussion, he said he would “try out” reflective stickers on the footpaths affected.
“They’re appearing out of the blue,” Councillor Reilly said of the enlarged but sometimes not very visible footpaths.
However, Mr Troy said the responsibility for avoiding the footpaths rests with drivers.
“Really it’s the driver’s responsibility to see where he or she is driving,” he said. “We don’t have any plans to highlight them any further.”
“It doesn’t make sense for me for these things to appear over the winter and to have no reflective paint on them,” Councillor Reilly replied.
In conclusion, Mr Troy undertook to utilise reflective stickers.
On another road-related motion, Councillor Paddy Collins asked that the county council roads department reinstate parking bays in O’Connell Street near Lynch’s Bed and Breakfast.
He pointed out that guests in the B&B often had to move their cars at 8am last year.
Councillor Claire Haugh requested that a public light be placed in front of number 17 St Patrick’s Terrace, along with a light on the Miltown Road near the Convent of Mercy. Councillor Haugh also highlighted poor public lighting in Mount Charles Terrace. Furthermore, she requested that a footpath be placed in front of four houses (15 to 18) in St Patrick’s Terrace.
Councillor Haugh described a footpath as a “basic requirement”.
However, Mr Troy said there isn’t sufficient room to place a footpath in front of the houses in question but that resurfacing the road is “a possibility”.