Caretaker needed for the town says area engineer

A CARETAKER for Shannon Town is badly needed, it was claimed at this week’s meeting of local area councillors.
In a written report, area engineer Eugene O’Shea also stated that the amount of council staff working in the Shannon area is relatively low.

“Water services staffing levels in the Shannon Electoral Area have been depleted due to the recruitment embargo. Even prior to the embargo, staffing levels were already low. There has never been a caretaker for Shannon Town and, in my opinion, one is essential. When fitters or the water services supervisor take holidays, the situation often arises where no fitter is available for general maintenance outside of the treatment plants. Now that our area of responsibility has increased by approximately 25%, current staffing resources will not be able to meet all demands that will be placed on them,” he stated.
In the report, it said that prior to 2002, there were 14 roads employees in the Shannon area but this declined to 11 even though the area’s boundaries expanded. On the plus side, it stated that another three people are due to begin work in the Shannon area in the near future. However, Mr O’Shea claimed that a further three employees are required to “provide a basic level of service to the newly enlarged area”.
Summing up, Mr O’Shea concluded that there is a need for more workers. “There is a significant deficit in the staff resources available to the Shannon Electoral Area that is impacting on the level of service provided to the public. Both roads and water services are similarly affected. This will have a serious impact on services, some types of work will have to be curtailed. In the short term, this will lead to delays in responding to issues raised by the general public. In the medium to long-term, regular maintenance of the council’s infrastructure, that is, roads, drainage, water and wastewater mains, treatment plants, pumping stations and so on will suffer. Also, the degree to which we can use our own staff to implement capital works will be reduced.”