Potholed roads: shame the real culprits

YOU reported (February 27) that a David Wall had decided to set up a website to name and shame local authorities that do not fill in potholes arising from the big freeze last January.

Local authorities do not have a bottomless pit of money. We in Cork County Council want all potholes filled as we drive on those same roads ourselves. Cork County Council, like all other local authorities, largely depends on government funding for day-to-day running of the local authority.

We do get funding from other sources like non-domestic water charges, refuse and development charges, etc, but these monies do not amount to very much and state aid is certainly not enough to repair all the damage done by the big freeze. There is a recruitment embargo, so with our limited staff numbers and resources we aretrying our best to get every road, and indeed every boreen, done as soon as possible.

I think Mr Wall’s time would be better spent if he went on a rant against the Government, which is cutting funding to children’s hospitals, taking special needs assistants from schools, cutting funding for roads and criminally wasting taxpayers’ money on the massive expenses they pay themselves.

Tom Walsh

Harolds Place

Mallow

Co Cork