Councillors not happy with town centre gritting

Westport councillors unhappy with town centre gritting


Meeting hears of blood on street and DΡil deputy helping elderly to cross the road

Michael Duffy

THE recent spell of cold weather has seen local authorities pushed to the pin of their collars to keep roads and footpaths safe for pedestrians and drivers alike but some Westport councillors were far from happy with procedures in the west Mayo town during the recent cold spell.
Fine Gael councillors Ollie Gannon and Christy Hyland told last week’s meeting of Westport Town Council that DΡil Deputy Michael Ring had to help elderly people cross the road on the way to Sunday Mass as the streets had not been gritted, while Cllr Gannon said he saw blood on the street outside McGreevy’s shop, where a man had fallen and hit his head.
Cllr Brendan Mulroy began the discussion on gritting by congratulating the indoor and outdoor staff of  the local council for all their hard work, gritting all the roads in and out of the town and keeping the town ‘open’ during the cold spell.
Cllr Martin Keane agreed with Cllr Mulroy, stating there was a very co-ordinated approach from the council’s staff, although he did question the quality of some of the gritting material that was used.
Cllr Ollie Gannon agreed that the work done by the council’s outdoor staff was good but he added that ‘all was not well’.
He said a totally unsatisfactory situation had developed on Sunday, December 5, before morning Mass in the town,
“I was doing a churchgate collection and there was people, especially elderly people, slipping and sliding around footpaths and at the bridge beside the church. It may be the case that all the main roads were gritted but the footpaths were not and that means that some people were prisoners in their own home.
“I met one woman who told me she couldn’t go to Mass and then she ran out of food because she couldn’t go to the shop. I was appalled.”
Cllr Gannon went on to say that he saw Deputy Michael Ring actually helping old people cross the road to go to Mass.
“My colleague Cllr Hyland can verify that, the footpaths were that slippy outside the church, and it’s not good enough. I have been told that the footpaths in other towns like Ballinrobe, Ballina and Castlebar were all fully gritted, and yet here in Westport there was a pool of blood outside McGreevy’s shop on Bridge Street where one man fell and hit his head.
“I am afraid all is not well when two weeks before Christmas, people cannot leave their own houses.”
Cllr Christy Hyland said he did indeed see Deputy Ring helping people across the street before Mass.
“It seems to me there is a lot of bluster about gritting, and yet people are still falling on the streets.”
Cllr Keith Martin said it was clear that council staff were out at all hours to try and make the town safe but he added that common sense had to apply and some falls could only be put down to bad luck.
“We can only spend so much, do businesses in the town want us to double their rates? People should be cleaning the ice outside their own premises if you ask me, it would only take everyone five minutes.”
Cllr Mulroy said the reality of the situation was that it had rained early on Sunday morning and despite the town already being gritted, black ice appeared outside the church.
“I saw the Town Foreman there myself shaking out salt after it rained.” Cllr Gannon said he didn’t ‘tell lies’ and he saw the situation with his own eyes.
“The reality is that lessons have not been learned from last year and where is this famous Mayo County Council Contingency Plan that is supposed to be able to deal with these situations?”
Cathaoirleach of the council, Cllr Tereasa McGuire, said that Iarla Moran from Mayo County Council could come to another meeting of the council to explain responses to these types of emergencies and that it was important that the council learn from its mistakes.
Town Manager, Mr Joe Beirne, said the recent cold spell had come sooner than anticipated.
During winter 2009, the council had gone out on 130 gritting runs from December 5, 2009 to January 14, 2010 and the reality of the situation was that already, up to December 9, 2010, they had gone on 40 runs.
“This early bad weather is unprecedented and we are under pressure. Last Saturday and Sunday was as bad as we have seen with sheets of ice everywhere and gritters could not get out, they were out as soon as they could. The reality is that salt is in short supply. I was talking to a City Manager today and it is the same everywhere, it is a national emergency.
“However, staff are doing a good job, we just have to all work together. We have provided grit for estates and we are doing our best in the town centre.”
Cllr Michael McLaughlin said it was clear that everyone was at the mercy of the NRA and that they were the ones deciding who got grit and how much they got.