A NUMBER of members of Clare County Council complained about long delays in repairing public lights, at last week’s meeting of the local authority. ”
“We’re all being asked about lights. Going back if you made a report about lights they’d be there in a fortnight or three weeks. People are blaming us because the lights aren’t being switched on. It’s a very awkward and difficult situation. There are some areas where lights are gone and it’s very, very dangerous,” said Councillor John Crowe.
Repairs can take up to a year, said Councillor Michael Begley. “It’s just gone ridiculous at this stage that lights are out in a village area for the bones of 12 months. In our case, in Clonlara, there are three or four holes dug in the footpath with barriers around them for at least six months and nothing has been done to put in the ducting and the cabling and whatever is required. It’s a disgrace what is happening.”
Councillor Pat Burke also drew attention to the problem. “In the village of Mountshannon over the weekend I counted five lights out of order. It’s basic stuff, I don’t know who’s responsible but it should be corrected sooner rather than later, especially before the winter.”
Explaining the background to the problem, the Council’s Director of Physical Development Alan Farrell said, “The contractor did give us notice back in April that they were leaving the market, the maintenance contractor we had in place Enerveo were leaving the market. It’s not just Clare.”
He said that a new contractor will be in place quite soon. “We commenced a process with Limerick City and County Council to get a replacement maintenance operator in place. That process is nearing the final stages and we hope to sign a contract by mid September. There are formal discussions going on at the moment, we are discussing what resources we can put into it as well.”
Mr Farell said that the outage rate for Clare had been 1.8%, but that has increased slightly.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.