Falling leaves leaving Castlebar footpaths in 'lethal' condition

Footpaths around Castlebar have become lethal due to the amount of wet leaves falling onto them according to a local councillor.

Fine Gael councillor Ger Deere called on the council to ensure that all footpaths are clear of leaves as he says they are particularly dangerous when they get wet.

“It is terrible at the moment with leaves particularly in housing estates where the leaves are on the footpaths and they are absolutely lethal for a lot of elderly. Rossmore in particular I have had calls from elderly people asking if we could prioritise the footpaths and clean off the leaves,” he said.

Cllr Deere also called for the gullies in the town to be cleared of leaves as they have become blocked up and he fears they will cause flooding during heavy rain.

Meanwhile, calls have been made by councillors in Castlebar to carry out improvement works on footpaths around the town or there will be a number of injury claims made.

Cllr Deere said he was aware of one man who recently fell and broke a bone and had to be airlifted to hospital.

“We need to start looking at the right works programme because they are disintegrating. One of the best residential areas in the town over the years has been Rathbaun Drive but the footpaths are totally disintegrating.

Real crisis

“You need to put in a programme to get the worst footpaths done because we have a real crisis on our hands with footpaths. We are going to have loads of claims the way this is going on and we need to prioritise that,” he said.

He was supported by a number of councillors who agreed that the footpaths are deteriorating and need repairing.

Cllr Blackie Gavin said that footpaths have not been repaired since the abolition of the town council.

“We need to put a programme in place like what was always done on the Town Council. There is no money being invested and we need a block grant from the department to repair the footpaths because some are terrible,” he said.

Cllr Harry Barrett commented that the footpath outside the Sacred Heart Hospital must be the worst in the town and called for temporary works to be done to repair it.

David Mellet, head of the Municipal District replied that there is no block grant for the programme of works for footpaths.

“We are undertaking to develop a programme in parallel with the road programme and we are trying to identify funding. It may have to come from notice of motion money unless a grant can be developed for it,” he said, adding they will look at a temporary solution for outside the Sacred Heart Hospital.