Laois lighting contractor 'should be sacked'

THE public lighting contractor in Laois should be sacked for providing a “disgraceful” service, according to angry county councillors.

Complaints about broken street lights all over the county reached boiling point at two local authority meetings.

Cllr Paddy Bracken from Mountmellick said he was “ashamed” to have so many people contacting him over lights left unrepaired for months. He said lights were out all over the town since before Christmas, including one outside his own house.

He said: “The lighting service we are getting is disgraceful. It’s a pure disgrace. We’ve been hearing for the past 12 months that the contractor is short of staff. They should be sacked.” 

Cllr Bracken said a two-month outage near the credit union in Mountmellick is particularly worrying, as there are elderly residents in the area.

Kilkenny-based contractor Killaree Lighting Services, which maintains public lighting for Laois County Council and a number of other local authorities, came under fire at the February meetings of both Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick and Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal Districts.

Cllr John King said there was an ongoing issue with lighting in Knockheel, Rathdowney, while Cllr Bracken also mentioned unrepaired lights around Derrycloney Bridge, a notorious accident black spot.

Cllr Ollie Clooney wanted a “strongly worded letter” to be sent to the contractor, stating that the council is not satisfied with the service. If the situation does not improve, he said, the contract should not be renewed.

As the public lighting contract is due for renewal shortly, Cllr Bracken asked the council to switch to a different contractor in future, while Cllr King suggested that any contract should be restricted to one year.

Senior executive officer Georgina Ireland told the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick meeting that she would bring councillors’ views to the attention of director of services Simon Walton.

There were further complaints at the Graiguecullen-Portarlington monthly meeting, where delays in repairs to public lighting are a constant source of frustration.

Killeen-based Cllr Aisling Moran said that Killaree Lighting Services should be replaced, as she claimed that repairs are completed within ten days in Carlow compared to ten weeks in Laois.

Cllr Moran said: “We have one contractor for all those lights. It is bananas. We should get someone else.”