€200m to repair damaged roads

REPAIRING the damage to roads caused by the severe cold weather at the end of last year could cost up to €200 million.

Addressing the Oireachtas Environment, Heritage and Local Government committee as part of a delegation from the County and City managers Association, Waterford city manager Micheal Walsh, said that the “preliminary estimate” on road repairs due to the adverse weather was €200m and that the roads most damaged were being prioritised for repair.

Mr Walsh said 111,000 tonnes of salt had been used in road maintenance so far this winter. This compared to 133,000 tonnes in total for the 2009/10 winter period, and less than 50,000 tonnes per annum used in the 10 years prior to that.

The committee heard salt availability had become an issue during late December with stocks running down to 4,000 tonnes prior the arrival of another shipment.

Kerry county manager Tom Curran said the country’s 25,000km-long mains water network was “in dire need of replacement.”

Mr Curran said that in the last 10 years, the €6 billion spent on the network had overwhelmingly gone towards waste water treatment to meet EU requirements rather than improvements to the mains infrastructure.

He estimated that it would cost in the region of €100m to replace each 1% of the water mains network.

During the cold period which lasted for four weeks over November/December, average daily demand for water exceeded normal demand by up to 40%, water production had been maintained but reservoirs had been depleted due to leaks and taps being left on.

Mr Curran said 26,000 incidents with water network supply had been dealt with nationwide, with 2,589 unattended non-domestic shut offs carried out.

However, most people in all local authority areas had water supply returned by December 30, with restrictions in the Dublin area finally ended on January 16.

All committee members praised the efforts of local authorities workers in meeting the demands of the severe weather over the Christmas period.

Cork Labour TD Ciaran Lynch asked why Cork County Council had refused to provide gritting material to local groups citing public liability concerns. Mr Walsh said this had been based on a “misunderstanding” of health and safety legalisation and had been rectified within a few days.