Tipperary roads left in a ‘desperate state’ after contractor works
Concerns have been raised across Tipperary about the state of the county’s roads after contractors have carried out works.
At the December meetings of both the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir Municipal Districts, councillors highlighted the state of roads in their areas that have been left in an unsatisfactory condition after contractors had carried out works on pipes beneath them.
In the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel area, independent councillor John O’Heney said that external contractors aren’t putting the roads back into the same condition as they were before works were done.
"This is becoming more of an issue, and it’s sometimes when external contractors are coming into the district and completing works, they’re not putting the road back to the state in which they found it,” Cllr O’Heney said.
"This is becoming very prevalent in the last six or 12 months, particularly contractors coming in doing work for Uisce Éireann, they’re not putting the roads back to the way in which they found it, and that’s then putting additional pressure on this council.”
Cllr O’Heney said that Bridge Street in Tipperary town is one example he can think of where the road was left in a poor state.
"One example might be Bridge Street here in Tipperary town, which is in a desperate state at the minute, I don’t know how many times that’s been dug up in the last two years, but it’s in an awful state now, and it’s an awful eyesore,” he said.
"It’s not the council’s fault a lot of the time because external contractors are coming in and they’re not putting the same level of care into putting the road back.
"Another example that springs to mind is the work that’s been completed between Mount Bruis and Shronell, it’s absolutely fantastic work, five or six kilometres of a new pipe that was badly needed in the area, it was an area majorly suffering with water problems, but since the works, there’s several areas on that stretch of road that have not been left up to the required standard,” he added.
The issue is “very unfair” on the districts themselves, the independent councillor said.
"Have we any mechanism to make them adhere to better standards of workmanship?” he asked.
In response, James Swords, the district engineer said that they have been trying to work with Uisce Éireann for several years.
"With the reinstatement, it’s a constant battle, and we’re not really getting much success out of them,” he said.
"There is a commitment for them to come back still but we’re working with them to try and get them but the list is getting bigger and the finish line is getting further away,” Mr Swords added.
In Carrick-on-Suir, Fine Gael councillor Mark Fitzgerald raised similar issues in his district, with works currently ongoing in the town of Killenaule.
"Uisce Éireann’s upgrade programme is heading through Killenaule, and all of the street they’re working on was resurfaced only a couple of years ago,” he said.
"Will these roads be reinstated to the same standard as they were? That was a solid job done that time and it would be a fright if it was done badly this time around,” Cllr Fitzgerald added.
Agreeing with his municipal colleague, Sinn Féin councillor David Dunne said he wasn’t confident in Uisce Éireann’s contractors to put the roads back the way they were.
"I’d be very worried about the road that Cllr Fitzgerald mentioned and reinstating it back to the quality it was because unfortunately, they did the same on the N24,” Cllr Dunne said.
"Uisce Éireann dug three holes to find one leak, and the road has still not been put back down, and the rules of the county council are that they have to go so many metres either side of the actual leak and kerb-to-kerb on the resurfacing,” he explained.
"So I would be expecting that they be held to account because they still haven’t been held to account for the N24, after there was a fantastic job done on it,” he added.
Cllr Dunne said that it does not make sense to him why one company is held to account, but another isn’t.
"Yet, the company that did the job on the N24, the TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) found a fault with the road, because people were asking us as public reps, ‘why are they taking up a fabulous new surface?’, but there was faults found in it, and they had to come back in – at no cost to the taxpayers, I might add.
"They replaced the road, and the road is fantastic again now, but I can’t understand why one company would be held to account to that standard and another company would not be held to the same standard,” Cllr Dunne added.