Councillors get down to the nitty-gritty

North Clare county councillors have asked officials to look into stockpiling grit at various public locations and compiling a database of volunteers ready to help out in a crisis in an effort to stop the area being crippled by extreme weather.
Of the 15 motions proposed by councillor at the recent North Clare Area meeting, 11 related to the conditions of roads. The majority of the motions arose from three weeks of freezing conditions in late December and early January following on from severe flooding in many places beginning in late November.
The acting senior executive engineer at the Ennistymon Area Office, Stephen Lahiffe, in a written response to one motion, acknowledged “all minor roads in the North Clare area were affected, to some extent, by the severe weather over the December, January period”.
Fine Gael Councillor Joe Arkins and Fianna Fáil’s Richard Nagle were both eager to see small grit dumps at critical locations to facilitate access in any further freeze up.
Councillor Arkins pointed out that during the freezing weather, there were particular areas where motorists could drive on level sections of roads but when they came to hills, they were unable to continue. Councillor Arkins said he knew of people trapped in their homes for up to 12 days and “a couple of half lorry loads [of grit] left some places would alleviate a lot of the problem”.
Grit stockpiles would be especially useful in places that were only accessible by foot during the cold spell according to Councillor Arkins, in order to ensure vehicular access. 
Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Kelly stated that members of the public had unrealistic expectations and that “everyone seems to think their road is the most important”.
Councillor Nagle said “the will is there if people had the materials,” adding that people would be willing to give space in their yards for stockpiles of grit and people would be willing to spread it then when needed.
Councillor Kelly warned against “abdicating responsibility” for roads.
Councillor Nagle  said that this would not be a case of the council expecting communities to do its work but stated that in many cases during December and January, council vehicles were not able to reach certain areas.
Councillor Joe Arkins told the meeting that he was not suggesting that “we abdicate our responsibility” but “there were areas that our own trucks and machines could not get to”.
Councillor Kelly later said he was not saying the council was abdicating its responsibility, clarifying “what I’m saying is that, what’s everyone’s business is no-one’s business”.
Councillor Kelly suggested that in order to avoid grit shortages, similar to those experienced last month, the council should be more sparing with its grit and “concentrate on the flash points where it is dangerous”.
Councillor Arkins refuted this saying the council should deal with any future situations by having enough grit in stock.
Councillor Nagle claimed that there is “tremendous will among communities” to help themselves. A view echoed by his fellow councillors who acknowledged that during the freezing conditions, they were contacted by a number of people offering to grit their own areas if issues of supply were dealt with.
Ennistymon’s Fine Gael Councillor Martin Conway said he received a number of such calls over the past month and suggested forming a database of volunteers in each area who “would be prepared to volunteer at short notice at a time of crisis” like the recent bad weather under the guidance of council staff.
In a written reply to a notice of motion by Councillor Nagle, Mr Lahiffe said that the council is currently carrying out a “review of the winter Maintenance Programme and the locations at which grit was provided will also be reviewed. The list can then be amended to discard locations which were underused and add alternative locations.”
Each of the North Clare councillors commended the work of the local authority staff in what was acknowledged as extremely difficult circumstances.
“Christmas is a time when people want to spend time with their families. Many council workers effectively had no holidays,” according to councillor Nagle.
The Fianna Fáil councillor had proposed a motion to commend the workers for “doing everything possible to ensure that roads were passable and water services maintained”.
He said that some workers were “effectively working around the clock” since before Christmas. He added that “there were people who worked more than the hours allowed” and that “in many cases, staff put aside health and safety issues” in order to make roads passable.
Councillor Martin Conway pointed out that many members of council staff had “set aside Christmas in order to facilitate road safety” and ought to be recognised for their commitment. He said it must be recognised that “these people did effectively risk their lives”.
Councillor Conway also commended the emergency service personnel that worked throughout the bad weather as well as taxi drivers who continued to operate and provide a service despite treacherous conditions.
Chairman of the meeting, Councillor Michael Hillery from Miltown Malbay, stated that many of the staff “went above the call of duty,” adding that the county hadn’t experienced these conditions since 1983.
“Everyone rowed in and helped and hopefully, we will learn lessons from it and if it happens again we will have a plan in place,” he said.
Clare County Council director of services for Transport and Infrastructure David Timlin pointed out that in many parts of North Clare, the flooding crisis ran directly into the bad weather and that there had been disruptions in some areas from November 19 until the last of the water services was restored last Friday.