Councils’ challenges of safety orders criticised

LIMERICK and Clare county councils have been criticised for mounting legal challenges against notices issued by the Health and Safety Authority directing them to improve their work standards.

The legal cases, which were before the district courts for mention last week, come amid allegations that road conditions may have been a factor in the deaths of two women in accidents in counties Mayo and Donegal.

New road safety legislation requires all local authorities to apply international standards when conducting roadworks.

However, spot-checks conducted by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) have found that numerous local authorities are failing to apply “even basic standards” during roadworks, Fine Gael MEP and senator Jim Higgins said yesterday.

Saying that he was “staggered” to learn of the decisions by Clare and Limerick county councils to challenge the regulations, Senator Higgins called on them to show some “cop-on” about road conditions.

He also criticised Environment Minister Dick Roche “for allowing this dangerous situation to develop under his watch”.

The senator said that there was evidence that two young women died as a result of substandard maintenance or inadequate signage. “There is also evidence that an unfinished road surface may have contributed to the Navan school bus crash in 2005.”

The HSA has issued a number of improvement notices to local authorities.

A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Authority told the Irish Examiner that, as the councils’ legal challenges were currently before the courts, it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment.