Our road s have taken quite a battering this winter

One can only hope that Louth County Council has built up adequate reserves to fund repairs to the road network in town when this long hard winter finally ends.

Never, in at least the last 20 years, has Dundalk seen the road network in such poor condition at this time of the year.

Inevitably any hard winterlots of rain and frost- takes its toll on roads, and the con- sequences are unavoidable, but the situation in Dundalk has been exacerbated by the extraordinary volume of road openings undertaken in recent months by Irish Water and private broadband network operators.

Any motorist, or cyclist, using the Dublin Road on a regular basis, will have had their patience tested almost beyond endurance at this stage caused by Irish Water in installing a new main, for the work has been ongoing for over two months now, with little sign of relief.

However, while it is accepted that services have to be provided, the most annoying aspect of this work is the failure of the providers to properly repair the roads and footpaths.

There is no greater example of this in town than the Demesne, where failure to properly repair the road after major excavation work has led to a situation located opposite Ice House Hill Park where the road is in such a bad condition that motorists forced to swerve to avoid damage to their vehicles are likely to cause a collision.

The contractors who undertake this work for the private utility companies are exploiting the failure of the local authority to insist and oversee that the repairs to the roads and footpaths are up to standard.

If fines were imposed on the companies and their contracts if the repair work is not adequate then perhaps they would take more care.

The upshot of this is the rapidly deteriorating road network in town which is going to take a great deal of money to repair while the claims against the local authority for repairs to tyres and vehicles damaged by potholes are certain to soar in the coming months.