Council has no funding for footpath repairs in a Laois village

DESPITE a local councillor pointing out the dangers posed by traffic to school-going children in Ballyroan, the council said it has no funds available to widen a footpath that is causing concern locally.

Cllr Barry Walsh pointed out the “safety hazard” of the footpath at Glenbrook because “it is barley wide enough for one person to walk by, and kids regularly have to step out onto the roadway with oncoming traffic, with the obvious dangers with that.” 

He made his comments at a Portlaoise Municipal District Council meeting after he proposed the council could widen the footpath under the active travel or other suitable schemes.

However, the council’s executive engineer Seamus Quinn told him that there was no dedicated funding available and what he required was not in the council’s work programme for the coming year.

Mr Quinn said: “Should suitable funding become available a widening scheme could be considered.” 

Cllr Walsh said: “In the interim, pending funding becoming available, would a line-marking option be available, to try and realign the road in some way? There’s one particular section, probably 100 meters in length and less than one metre wide, where the hedge is encroaching out onto the footpath, if you could get a resolution to that, it may temporarily solve the issue.” 

Agreeing cllr John Joe Fennelly said: “We should look at every option for safety around schools. I’d ask that the engineer meet on site and come up with a resolution to this.” 

The council’s director of services Simon Walton said that councillors agreed a motion last October calling on the state to provide a footpath restoration programme, similar to the roads restoration programme, which he said, “has transformed the overall condition of the road network across the county.” 

And that such a programme, “is the only opportunity to avail of the funds that are necessary to do the type of footpath scheme that is referred to in the notice of motion, together with other multiple similar motions for footpath enhancement all around the county.” 

He said: “If there are interim, lost-cost measures that could be introduced to support safety in the vicinity of the school we’d be happy to meet at the site what, if anything, is possible, in that regard.” 

Cllr Walsh reiterated: “This really is a safety hazard. Kids have to walk off the footpath, which is not acceptable in my view. From a safety perspective is there not other funding available .” 

Cllr Tommy Mulligan said: “When it comes to schools and young children, they find it difficult walking by themselves and if there’s trip hazards, it has to be addressed. As well as that, special needs is what we are trying to provide for in schools so trip hazards come into it as well.” 

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald proposed that other councils around the country should be contacted and asked to support them in looking for funding for a footpath restoration programme.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said: “We all have estates all over the place, some over 50-years, since anything has been done with their footpaths. It’s all fine and well writing to the other councils, but we need to put pressure on the department. There used to be a budget to repair footpaths, but that’s long gone.” 

The meeting agreed to write to all other councils around the country as well to the Department of Transport calling for a dedicated funding scheme to be allocated to repair footpaths.