GRITTING SHAMBLES CONTINUES AS DEMPSEY STANDS IDLY BY
5 Jan 2010
The shambolic and total failure of Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to co-ordinate gritting and other measures for the road network given the current extreme weather conditions has been an absolute disgrace.
We are undoubtedly experiencing one of the worst winters for decades. Yet it is extraordinary that the recent cold weather snap has caused such absolute travel chaos and disruption to everyday life. Incredibly it has been reported today that bus commuters across the country may face delays and service reductions for the next two weeks due to the bad weather.
I have been contacted by a number of senior citizens in my own Dublin North East constituency who have been in effect trapped for the last week in their homes since the onslaught of the snowy and icy weather because there has been absolutely no gritting of secondary roads and local roads in residential estates. The difficulties for seniors trapped in homes in more isolated and rural areas have clearly been even greater.
A number of councils across the country have indicated that it is a lack of grit or salt material rather than manpower or resources that is now preventing them from carrying out more extensive gritting operations. Minister Dempsey’s statement that his Department wrote to the 34 Local Authorities in November last advising them to buy extra grit for the coming winter is simply not good enough.
Why as Minister did he not make sure that extra grit and salt supplies were coordinated at a national level to alleviate the treacherous road conditions that were forecast and that people all over Ireland are currently grappling with in particular on secondary and local roads? Even in Counties Wicklow, Kildare and Meath today stretches of key roads including the N81 and the R410 remain quite dangerous.
As Transport Minister one of Noel Dempsey’s key responsibilities is clearly to oversee the safe and effective operation of national transport infrastructure including the road network. As the Minister’s spectacular failure to coordinate an effective and comprehensive gritting programme continues (and as we face perhaps one of heaviest snowfalls of the cold snap in the next 48 hours), commuters and citizens across the country rightly feel totally abandoned by this Transport Minister and his government.
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