Dublin North East Labour Deputy Tommy Broughan has slammed the failure of the government to facilitate a road gritting programme for secondary roads in local residential estates across Dublin North East during the recent extreme weather conditions.

A number of local senior citizens contacted Deputy Broughan to complain that they have been unable to leave their homes since the onslaught of the snowy and icy weather because there has been absolutely no gritting of secondary and local roads by the Local Authorities.

Deputy Broughan said, "It is incredible that given the current treacherous weather conditions some local senior citizens have been in effect trapped in their homes. The ice and snow has been so bad in many residential areas of Dublin North East that it has been unsafe for senior citizens to leave their homes and attempt to walk on ungritted walkways and roads. Elderly citizens have told me that they have been unable to get to the local shops and have had to rely on family, friends or neighbours to provide the bare essentials such as bread and milk. It is therefore particularly disappointing that Dublin City and Fingal County Councils have failed to grit key roads in estates where there is senior housing and accommodation or where many senior citizens live."

Deputy Broughan immediately contacted Dublin City and Fingal County Council Managers to request that local roads and paths are gritted as a matter of priority. Local Authorities have indicated that given the programme of cutbacks to local government services being overseen by the Fianna Fail/Green government there are no resources or manpower to grit individual estates.

In a lengthy reply to Deputy Broughan, Fingal County Manager Mr. David O’Connor went on to say, "The Council had grit (a sand-salt combination sourced from Carrickfergus, Co Antrim) and a purer salt imported into Ringaskiddy in Cork) in store more than the quantity required for the average year. Crews have been out on the roads (prioritised by traffic levels, where there are significant local difficulties and in strategic terms) virtually every morning from 5.30 am. Current constraints are solely caused by the supply of salt or grit not due to manpower or financial constraints. The source in Antrim is also a significant source for grit for Northern Ireland and the UK (there is no such source in the UK) and the earlier UK demands have meant that there is no grit ready for shipping, all reserves are depleted and the supply is dependent on what they can mine on a daily basis from there. (They’ve offered us a 40 tonne load but we use 100 tonnes per night on any night gritting). The imported salt is twice as costly and mostly used on national roads. We have supplies of both for just a few more days, used sparingly, with most Councils in the region in a similar situation. We’ve not been supplied with at least two loads of salt ordered some time ago, we are due these imminently but cannot be sure when."

Deputy Broughan added, "Given the current extreme weather conditions it is astonishing and completely unacceptable that Minister Noel Dempsey and Minister John Gormley and their colleagues have failed to put any additional resources in place to address the current weather crisis. It’s also astonishing to note how better prepared the Northern Ireland administration seems to be compared to the incompetents in the southern cabinet. Deputy Broughan has also contacted Transport Minister Dempsey and asked him to urgently expand the road gritting programme to include secondary roads and key estate roads as a matter of priority.