Road treatment labelled ‘exclusive’

Miltown Malbay Independent county councillor Christy Curtin has questioned Clare County Council’s leadership following the recent spell of icy weather, which left much of the 1,100km of West Clare roads virtually impassable for up to two weeks. He claimed that their policy was “exclusive” and left many roads very difficult to drive on.

“Part of the policy was exclusive. It left out of the loop roughly 4,000km of the local road structure,” he said.
The local authority only gritted main roads, which Councillor Curtin acknowledged, however he maintains that a review of winter maintenance policy in West Clare must take place.
“People in rural areas pay motor tax and they have an entitlement to a service within reason. We can’t have coverage of every place but people must have some idea that they can get out and that wasn’t happening in parts of the county,” Councillor Curtin told The Clare Champion this week.
He cited areas like The Hand on the Ennis–Miltown Malbay road, near Connolly, as an area that relied solely on voluntary community labour to ensure that motorists were helped if their car couldn’t negotiate the conditions.
“People in that area were constantly available day after day to assist people and you had the same below in Lower Lisroe. They were very patient and they were very forthcoming in their help,” Councillor Curtin said of the community in that area. “We must build on that type of spirit because we have a depleted workforce.”
Another busy road that was untreated was the Kilmihil–Doonbeg route via Cree, while the road from Killimer car ferry to Shaughnessy’s Cross on the main Ennis–Kilrush road was not gritted either.
Councillor Curtin expressed the view that elected members and the county council executive should engage in talks to ensure that a more coherent plan is in place if adverse weather strikes the county again.
“We have to engage wider but we’ll have to be more clear in our directions to communities that are assisting us in relation to liability and availability of material. We have to have clear leadership,” he stressed.
“Our area is huge. We have a huge road network in West Clare. We have 1,100km of local road. That’s about 28% of the county road network. What happened wasn’t good enough and I think for that reason we need a policy review of the current winter maintenance plan.
“We need to give some reassurance to people that are living on these local roads,” Councillor Curtin concluded.