This article is from page 10 of the 2009-05-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
FRONT line road staff at Clare County Council could be just four months from being placed on a three-day week following a massive fall-off in the amount of money the local authority has to spend on the county’s roads.
Details of the revised Roads Pro- gramme for 2009 were presented at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council and show a further cut of €6 million in the money available to
spend on roads.
Along with the cancellation of a number of road projects and up- grades, the council confirmed yes- terday that they have been in contact with the unions responsible for local authority road staff to discuss ways in which they might manage the shortfall from September on.
“IT am very disappointed that we have another amendment to our roads programme for this year. Having al- ready had cuts earlier this year, now to lose out on a further €6 million is a
disaster,” said Cllr Joe Cooney (FG).
“IT think that it is a total disgrace. I don’t think the council realise how bad the roads are. It’s all that the peo- ple who we are meeting at the door- steps are talking about. I am totally opposing this today. We have had enough cuts since last September in our roads programme and we can’t take any more cuts.”
Concerns were raised that front line road staff could face cuts later this year.
“The worry is that further cuts
might come. There has to be a re- evaluation of the current situation,” said Cllr Pat Hayes (FF).
“If we lose our workers on the ground, it will cause more difficulty in the future. We need to ensure that we still have a workforce in the autumn. There are rumours out there that peo- ple will be on a three-day week in the autumn. There are some critical things that must be evaluated.”
A council spokesperson said that all avenues were being explored to ensure that local authority staff are
retained.
“We are engaged in constructive dialogue with the unions for the road workers and machinery operators staff. We are exploring every avenue for saving money before we look at the reduction in hours for the road maintenance staff,’ said a council spokesman.
‘As regards to further cuts later in the year, I have no idea. The funding agencies for this are Clare County Council, as well as the NRA and the Department of Transport.”