Pothole repairs

Cllr. Anne Campbell raised the issue of potholes with senior engineer Vincent Toner. Cllr. Campbell said councillors had recently received an email from an area road supervisor telling them that ‘on the ground, we are very low on workplace personnel’. She said the roads had been very badly affected following the bad weather and asked Mr Toner if additional staff was being considered.

Mr Toner said that at this stage, no additional staff are planned to be allocated to roads. He added that work had been held up by the bad weather as they can’t patch potholes when its wet. Cllr Antoin Watters has called for Louth County Council to look at the possibility of installing a barrier at Edentubber in a bid to prevent the illegal dumping of tyres in the mountain area. He told last week’s Municipal of Dundalk District meeting that the problem was still ongoing.

Senior engineer Mr Vincent Toner said that they could look into the matter but warned that it could be a dangerous structure for cars turning in off the road. The cement bollards on the Newry Road at Dowdallshill should never have erected, Cllr Conor Keelan told the meeting. He referred to a recent traffic accident in which a bollard at the graveyard hill was damaged and had to be repaired. ‘ They should never have been put there in the first place,’ he said recalling that the originally plans called for ramps to be put in either side of the traffic lights. ‘ The whole design should be completely revisited,’ he urged. He asked for a update on the repairs to the railings of St Patrick’s Cemetery and was told that work was ongoing.