Deferring gas boiler maintenance in council homes raises fears

The deferral of gas boiler maintenance in council homes across Cork City as part of a €1.2m cutbacks package raises serious health and safety issues, it was claimed last night.

Meanwhile, Labour Party councillors have been criticised for not supporting the city manager’s efforts to rein in council spending to balance the books.

Sinn Féin councillor Thomas Gould, who criticised the boiler maintenance deferral, called on city manager Tim Lucey to get expert advice on the potential impact it will have on the safe operation of boilers over the winter season.

“I don’t want to scare people but we need to get expert advice on this,” said Mr Gould.

“Has the city council got expert advice from Bord Gáis or engineers in the industry?

“Did we do a risk assessment on the impact this decision will have? You can’t make these kinds of decisions without knowing the consequences.”

And he warned that older boilers could break down more often if the maintenance programme is deferred, resulting in the council facing an even greater repair bill next year.

The gas boiler winter maintenance programme was one of several areas of city spending which were hit on Monday night.

Mr Lucey said the cuts were necessary after a fall in central government funding and non-compliance with the household charge.

He said he had to introduce the €1.2m savings and adjustments to balance the city’s books before the end of the year.

As well as the deferral of the boiler maintenance programme, the adjustments have hit spending on the Christmas in Cork festival, winter roads maintenance, parks maintenance, and also forced the cancellation of new book purchases by the city library network.

Mr Lucey warned that further cutbacks could be on the cards in October, when the council finances are reviewed.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael has strongly criticised members of the Labour Party for failing to support the manager’s cost-cutting package at Monday’s meeting.

Councillors voted 16 to 10 against the €1.2m spending cuts, despite the vote having no legal effect.

Mr Lucey said that he is duty-bound to balance the books, and that the cuts have already been implemented. But as the vote was called, four Labour councillors abstained.

Councillor Des Cahill of Fine Gael criticised the Labour councillors for agreeing to the package at a Corporate Policy Group meeting behind closed doors last week, but then failing to demonstrate public support for the cuts when they were discussed at Monday’s meeting in public.