O’Rourke blasts ‘low standards’ at council level

The cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council has criticised what he described as the "all-time low standards" of the council in dealing with issues being raised again and again by elected representatives.

Cllr Aengus O’Rourke said he is "embarrassed and disgusted" at the slow rate of progress in dealing with matters such as lighting on the Athlone town bridge and new signs for the town. He said the people responsible for fixing the issues are the ones "who should be embarrassed".

In a verbal attack on the council at their November meeting, Cllr O’Rourke said that, although he is normally "a mild-mannered man", he was "boiling inside" at having to come to the council chamber and raise the same issues three months in a row and still see no progress.

Referring specifically to the lack of lighting on the Athlone bridge, the Fianna Fáil representative said "between 50 and 60 people" are contacting him every day to ask when the lights will be fixed, and he has no answers to give them.

"It gives me no pleasure to say that standards on this council are low, in fact they have reached an all-time low, in my opinion," said Cllr O’Rourke.

He added that the "lack of action and urgency" with regard to fixing the lights on the bridge was "extremely frustrating" and he added that the only thing that did happen on the bridge over the past six months was "another light went out".

Local people who use the bridge on a regular basis will have to walk across "in the pitch dark" during the winter, he said, and he wanted to know why no action had been taken to address this urgent issue.

Cllr O’Rourke said he wanted to put three specific questions to the council – who is responsible for fixing the lights? When will they be fixed? And why wasn’t the work done before now?

"I’m not saying I’m going to move in with the person who is responsible for fixing the lights, but I will certainly be on their tail," he added.

Director of services, Barry Kehoe, said it was "not the case" that nothing had happened in relation to the lights on the bridge. "Whether Cllr O’Rourke chooses to believe this or not is a matter for him," he said.

Mr Kehoe said the lack of lighting in that area of the town was "not a simple matter" and had necessitated the replacement of a lot of the infrastructure associated with the lighting. "It’s not as simple as changing a bulb like you would at home," he said, adding that, despite the fact that electrical contractors had been on site on a number of occasions in recent months, they had been unable to put a solution in place that they would have been "happy to sign off on from a safety perspective".

Mr Kehoe described the public lighting infrastructure in Athlone as "weak" and said there is a need for investment to raise the system to "modern standards" and that would necessitate changing a lot of the basic components.

He added that the parts for the replacement of bulbs on the town bridge are on order and are due to be delivered "this week", after which the contractors will set about installing them.

Cllr O’Rourke welcomed the update from the director of services and said he was "not aware" that contractors were on site at the town bridge.

"I go from month to month after our meetings and I never hear one word about the work that has been outlined to us here today by the director of services, so an update would have been helpful," he ended.