'Road Works Ahead', Says Oireachtas Committee

The amount of reconstruction work needed to assure the provision of water supplies and to repair damaged Irish roads after the Christmas and New Year 'Big Freeze' are being investigated by Oireachtas Committee.

The impact and response of both city and county councils to the effects of the recent extreme weather have been the subject of a probe at the meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Representatives from the County and City Managers Association faced questions at the meeting regarding the impact of the freezing condition on road conditions and the current status regarding the supply of drinking water.

Committee Chairman, Seán Fleming TD said: "There was an unprecedented loss of water in many regions which saw restrictions being placed in many places throughout the country.

"In some areas there are still limits in place which has meant a major inconvenience for households and businesses," he said, noting there has been some criticism of councils and their reactions to the weather related events and suggestions that they were not sufficiently resourced to deal with the effects of the thaw.

"We intend to establish the current situation regarding water supply and consider the effectiveness of the councils' response."

The Committee will also scrutinise the performance of the local authorities with regard to keeping roads passable during the cold snap, he continued.

"We have been asking them if enough was done to keep roads open as well as finding out how local authorities are progressing with repairing roads damaged by the weather.

"We specifically decided to call in the city and county managers as they were the ones on the front line dealing with the extreme weather," he concluded.

(BMcC/GK)