Council salt barn freezes to a halt

WITH yet another big freeze predicted for the end of the week, concerns about the safety of the county’s roads have been raised by Clare county councillors.

The council has treated a total of 600km of roads throughout the county during the recent bad weather, the local authority confirmed.
At Monday evening’s meeting of the council, councillors were informed that there are sufficient salt supplies for three days and they are expecting other deliveries this week.
A salt barn, which was due to be completed by the end of December, will now be finished in early 2011 as sub-zero temperatures hindered the construction. The council is also to receive two extra salting machines, which will increase the local authority’s capacity to deal with severe weather conditions.
Councillors were told that the authority’s winter maintenance programme is under review and councillors can make submissions until Friday.
Nora Kaye, acting director of services for planning, told the meeting, “It’s impossible to do every single road, it has to be a case of prioritising.”
At the meeting, several councillors tabled motions in relation to the treatment of roads during the bad weather. Councillor Oliver Garry urged that all regional routes be salted and sand grit depots be provided in steep areas of roads and villages.
Councillor Joe Cooney called for an up-to-date report on the winter maintenance programme saying, “We are all well aware of what happened last year, people were prisoners in their own homes.”
Councillor Joe Arkins tabled a motion that the director outline in full the contingency plans to deal with the freezing weather and in particular the provision of grit dumps or salt bins for use by local people and community groups.
“We shouldn’t have to wait for the freeze before we get out the community grit. We have to keep the county turning, we can’t just put up a sign saying sorry we’re closed for business,” he said.
Councillor Pat Hayes commented that he had made a number of submissions after the freeze last year and they have not been included in the gritting programme, adding that parts of East Clare have suffered “substantially” from the poor weather.
Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald described how it took him an hour to travel 24 miles and commented that people are scared of clearing footpaths because of fears of litigation.
Councillor Tony Mulcahy also raised the issue of public liability. County manager Tom Coughlan informed the meeting that the issue of liability does not arise where gritting material has been delivered, stored and used in a safe manner and it does not cause a hazard.
Councillor Johnny Flynn described how vulnerable people are being cut off from essential services due to the weather. Councillor Pat Burke asked who makes the decisions to treat a section of road or not. Councillor Flynn stated that “alarm bells” rang when he heard there was a three or four-day supply of salt.
Councillor Brian Meaney spoke about other countries, where severe weather conditions do not have the same detrimental effect and suggested “maybe now is the time for individual responsibility”.