‘We are doing everything we can’ – Sligo councillor reacts to calls from rural communities for roads to be gritted

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

Communities across rural county Sligo say they feel left out when it comes to the gritting of roads during cold snaps, the most recent being this week.

Residents of a south Sligo village are calling on the County Council to address the situation that annually results in disruption in Monasteraden and its surrounds as the area is not included in the local authority’s winter maintenance plan.

Cllr Paul Taylor has expressed his desire for all roads to be treated in times of severe weather but acknowledged this is not possible and pointed out that Monasteraden is not the only area where concerns exist in relation to challenging road conditions when freezing weather conditions take hold.

Local resident Jessamine O’Connor outlined her frustration in relation to the ongoing situation when she explained how the roads in the area are left untreated when freezing conditions arrive resulting in disruption for local residents, in particular school children who are unable to attend the local national school, St Aidan’s.

Outlining her concerns, Ms O’Connor said, “Due to the proximity of Lough Gara, the roads retain their snow and ice long after neighbouring villages have thawed, so Monasteraden can be frozen over for weeks in a hard winter, or for several days in one of these flash freezes.

“It is totally unacceptable that a populated area with the traffic to and from a primary school and preschool, as well as school buses servicing the secondary school in Ballaghadereen, is permanently disregarded by our council.”

Although not located on a primary road, the fact that the road going through Monasteraden is an artery linking areas such as Ballaghadereen, Ballymote and Gurteen should mean the village’s roads are maintained and treated in freezing conditions according to local residents.

“The roads that cross the junction are not themselves primary roads, they are the main routes between other primary roads, which are gritted, and very busy at all times of the day,” added Ms O’Connor.

“Children miss many days of school due to impassable roads, although it is only a short stretch between Edmondstown Cross, gritted by Roscommon Council, and Mullaghroe, gritted by Sligo which could be easily managed - if there was any effort made at all. Education is a right.

“Winter comes every year, yet every single time the snow or ice falls it's treated as a big shock that no one could have foreseen. Sligo county council needs to take responsibility for gritting this area before anyone gets seriously hurt.”

Agreeing with the need for roads in the region to be gritted Cllr Taylor said, “We’d like to do all the roads. Monasteraden is not the only area that there is issues in, there’s issues all over the county and all over every county.

“Normally it is the national and regional roads that are treated and if there is a prolonged spell we try to cover other local roads.

"We are doing everything we can as Councillors to see can we get some of the local roads included in the winter maintenance programme but it is going on for probably the last 30 or 40 years. If you ring any Councillor in any corner of the county they will tell you the same thing and previous Councillors before us.

“With the staff and lorries that we have and all the national and regional roads that we have they are doing their best to get all of them done from a staffing point of view to be fair. In more severe weather conditions that we saw a number of years ago we did manage to get a lot of local roads done. If there is a longer period of sustained bad weather like that, we try to get the road staff to do all they can in periods like that.

“It is an issue in Monasteraden, it’s an issue in Culfada, Clonloo, it’s an issue in parts of the three Municipal Districts when it comes to local roads.”

In relation to school’s being closed as a result of the weather conditions, Cllr Taylor explained that it is more than just the approach roads to schools that determine whether or not it is safe to open.

"It is across the board and once you go inside the gates of your school it is a private area. My kids go to Gurteen and I managed to drop a few bags of salt dropped off for the caretaker to clear the footpaths, that is happening in a lot of national schools across the country. St Attracta’s in Tubbercurry was closed for a few days as well and my daughter goes to Ballaghadereen and that was closed.

"Coola had a major issue as well because you are coming off a regional route to drive a couple of hundred metres up to it and that couple of hundred metres won’t be done because it is a local road.

"I would advocate for having every road done and I would love to see every road done but this is an ongoing issue for 40 years

"It is very difficult, one would like to see every road gritted. It has been an ongoing issue for years and it is still ongoing. Luckily we didn’t have severe weather for a prolonged period on this occasion."

“I would fully agree with the calls for Monasteraden to be gritted but it is an issue everywhere and I’m sure a lot of Councillors will be talking about it at the County Council meeting on Monday morning.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.