Laois public representative complain about dark delays
Laois public representatives are in the dark about the sustained problem with delays to fixing and installing street lights around the county with one asking if the council's system of recording faults is 'adequate'.
Cllr John King, Fine Gael, took up the problem with Laois County Council’s management at a recent meeting. The council outsources maintenance and repairs.
Cllr King said there have been three lights out of order in the community centre area. He said some repairs were carried out in the town but these were missed.
He was backed by Cllr Ollie Clooney, Independent, who said it was a widespread problem.
“There are lights out for ages. The nights are dark now and it looks miserable if lights are up that are not working,” he said.
Cllr Conor Bergin, Fine Gael, also rowed in on the issue. He called on council management to remind the retained contractors to install new lights that had been given the goahead. He added that there is a small time frame for work to be done before year’s end while a further delay is faced in getting the ESB to connect the lights to power.
Cllr Paddy Bracken, Fianna Fáil, called for improvements in the system of street light maintenance. He wanted to know if the Council’s fault reporting system is adequate to manage the schedule of repair work.
He insisted that a contract is in place and the public should not be waiting for weeks to have lights repaired.
Cllr James Kelly, Independent, said he had experienced delays to installing new lights. He added that he understood that additional teams were being deployed in Laois to repair lights.
The issue was raised at the Borris-in-Osory Mountmelllick Municipal District Meeting in November.