Call for extra gritting routes after around 15 cars come off road in north Louth

Cllr Antóin Watters has asked that Louth County Council look into add extra routes to the Council's gritting programme, following icy conditions in north Louth that led to around 15 cars leaving the road in the Edentubber area earlier this week.

Cllr Watters raised the matter at the Dundalk Municipal District January meeting, requesting that Louth County Council engineer Darius Messayeh, who is over the gritting programme, meet with councillors to discuss the programme. 

Cllr Watters told the meeting that at the Edentubber Road in north Louth on the previous morning, around 15 cars crashed due to icy conditions on a road that was not gritted. 

The Dundalk-Carlingford councillor said that the road is not on the gritting route but is one of the most popular roads in the area, with people coming through it from areas including Omeath.

Speaking to the Dundalk Democrat following the meeting, Cllr Watters said that due to the icy conditions on the Edentubber road, "there were people who couldn't get to school, couldn't get to work, there was businesses up there affected. We need to look to try and provide more grit to these people, be it for themselves to spread or the gritter to do it."

The Sinn Féin councillor added, "I do commend the work the gritting crew do, they do a lot of roads, but we need to look at trying to deal with this bigger picture, because every year you see these issues being raised.

"It's only really putting a plaster on something that we need to look at an overall review on, or maybe we need to put more money towards this. But we need to look at it in general."