Kerry street left in darkness as council pressed on public light repairs

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

A Kerry street has been left in complete darkness as the council is pushed to reduce response time to public lighting repairs.

A street in Listowel had “every light out bar one”, leaving the road in complete darkness, according to one Kerry councillor.

Councillor Tom Barry had received a call from one resident concerned for her grandmother who lived on O’Connell’s Avenue and was struggling to walk in the pitch black.

He expressed his sympathy with elderly residents on the street and urged Kerry County Council (KCC) to rectify the situation.

KCC has contracted Electric Skyline to maintain public lighting, requiring that 98.5 per cent of stock is operational and reported faults are repaired in 10 working days.

Monthly patrols are also performed to inspect public lighting across the county, while Electric Skyline is checked against its contractual duties every week, according to the council.

Councillor Jimmy Moloney also expressed frustration with the council’s response time, claiming that some lights had taken over a year and-a-half to be fixed.

He also mentioned an issue with two lights outside the council’s own office, both of which had gone out some time ago, but only one had been fixed.

“It’s inconsistent,” said Cllr Moloney, adding: “and it’s a safety issue”.

KCC said it maintains over 13,000 public lights in the county and maintenance is significantly influenced by the age of their lighting stock.

The council is participating in the Public Lighting Energy Efficiency Project, led by Cork County Council, and is expecting significant improvements from this retrofitting of outdated lights with more energy efficient LED fittings.