Estate likened to ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’

SUCH is the lack of public street lighting at St Patrick’s Terrace in Kilkee, Councillor Paddy Collins has likened the local authority estate to “the Black Hole of Calcutta”.
The Black Hole of Calcutta was the guard room in the old Fort William, at Calcutta, India where troops of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, held British prisoners of war after the capture of the Fort on June 19, 1756.
With reference to the absence of sufficient light at St Patrick’s Terrace, Councillor Collins claimed that it is impossible to see the housing estate once it gets dark, adding that the bulb has blown in the one public light that normally works.
“If you passed St Patrick’s Terrace (at night) you wouldn’t know it was there. Now the only lights you can see are Christmas lights,” he said.
“There’s only one light there at the moment and the bulb is gone. It has been gone for a week. There are no lights in St Patrick’s Terrace. This has been going on for 30 years,” he added.
Councillor Michael ‘Hopper’ McGrath put forward a possible solution to the lack of lighting. “What you need there is the number of the pole,” he suggested.
Councillor Lily Marrinan Sullivan said that providing more lighting in St Patrick’s Terrace was an immediate concern. “St Patrick’s Terrace should be a priority because there are elderly people there,” she said.
Councillors said that a dearth of public lighting, especially during the winter months, was a problem in several parts of Kilkee.
Councillor Mary Owens pointed out that there was only light in the Kilkee Bay Hotel, on the Kilrush Road, when it was open. She noted that there was no street lighting outside the hotel.
Councillor Collins raised the issue when he requested that Clare County Council, in association with the ESB, place an extra street light in St Patrick’s Terrace.
“A quotation will be sought from ESB Contracts for the provision of an extra street light and will be considered under Clare County Council’s 2010 public lighting programme,” town engineer Derek Troy stated in a written reply.
Town manager Nora Kaye said that an inventory of all public lighting throughout the county was in the offing.