Fix on the way for faulty street lights in Louth

Councillors at the Dundalk Municipal District February meeting have been told that Louth County Council has met with its public lighting contractor over the past month, to put pressure on them as they were "behind on where they should be”, in relation to broken public lights across the county.

Cllr Maeve Yore sought an update from the local authority, on the meeting that was to take place the previous month with the public lighting contractor, in relation to the amount of public lights in the area that are out of order and the amount of time it is taken to repair them.

Senior Engineer Mark Johnston told the meeting that the council met with the contractor and has put "a lot of pressure on them" as “they were behind on where they should be”. Mr Johnston said that it was a new company that Louth County Council appointed last September and that they were putting pressure on the company "to get feet on the ground", adding that they are working in Ardee and Drogheda and are now working through "quite a lot of open faults".

Mr Johnston advised the meeting that the Council has a three county Service Level Agreement with the company, Monaghan and Cavan being the other two counties, adding that the two other counties are having the same problems, as well as other counties as the company operates in a "multiple of counties" across Ireland.

Cllr John Reilly enquired about the lights at the Castleblayney Road exit of the M1, saying that they have been switched off. Mr Johnston said that it is a policy of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the State agency that runs the national road lights, to "dim and trim the lights around the junctions", and reducing the lighting for energy saving reasons.

He added however that he was not sure if these particular lights were switched off, or it was due to an electric fault following Storm Éowyn, but further added that "the general policy is to reduce the amount of energy by cutting and trimming".

Cllr Emma Coffey spoke on the matter, saying that she understood there may be a backlog due to the recent storm, but highlighted that "a lot" of the street lighting has gone off on Alphonsus Road, and in places including Fatima, Point Road, some at Red Barns Road.

Cllr Coffey said that her fear would be, citing Fatima as an example, in relation to the elderly population living there, and that the footpaths "aren't great as it is" and that street lighting being off is causing falls and trips. She further added that at the Red Barns Road there is ongoing building work, with muck and rubble on the footpaths and cycle lanes, and without the street lights working, it would mean that it could cause anyone walking or cycling in the evening to fall, making the local authority "open for lawsuits".

Cllr Shane McGuinness was the last councillor to speak on the matter at the February meeting, asking if the council was covered by insurance in a situation where there is a road with no lighting and there was an accident. as from what he was aware, insurance companies "are not paying out on any claim where lighting is not at a high enough level".

Cllr McGuinness also highlighted that the lights between Jackie Murphy's and Greengates on the old Dublin Road have been out for the past three weeks, as well as the lights in Clooneevan housing estate which have also out for the last two weeks.