The ban on overtime for Cork County Council workers has been lifted to allow the council to address the worrying state of the county’s roads, especially following the recent severe weather. The news was welcomed by Cllr Ronan Sheehan, who said, “Cork was hit significantly during Storm Darwin and the other severe weather we experienced in recent weeks and months. As a result, we are now at crisis levels in Cork county in relation to the state of our roads, and I welcome the manager’s initial response as the only available course of action within the currently defined budget, though given that we are faced with potholes being filled by traffic cones right across the county, the time has come for serious and lasting action to be taken to protect all of our road users.”
Cllr Sheehan added that road repairs were the number one issue on the majority of doors he has knocked on in the lead-up to the local elections in May. “We are hearing various concerns but the major local one is the state of the roads in our communities. I am looking forward to the manager’s report at the next Council meeting on the state of road conditions for the county.”
Cllr Dan Joe Fitzgerald, however, said he was disappointed that there will be a 23% reduction in the surface dressing allocation this year from the govern-ment, and he suggested that one way of dealing with the pothole situation was for the council to give soft tarmac to local communities to allow them repair their own potholes. “This could work similar to the situation a few years ago where salt was given to local communities to treat icy roads”, he said. Cork Co. Council is at present investigating this proposal.