Laois road sees the light at last
Street lights left unrepaired for 18 months on a busy Portarlington road have been fixed at last. Photo: Love Portarlington
AFTER 18 months of darkness, a road in Portarlington has seen the light at last.
The Ballymorris Road had become notorious, with a line of 21 street lights out of action since September 2023.
One county councillor admitted that he was “nearly afraid to answer the phone” to residents, because of a “totally unacceptable” delay in fixing the lights along a footpath used by many walkers.
After such a long wait, it was almost a surprise when the Ballymorris and Canal Roads were suddenly bathed in glorious light this week.
All 21 lights along the footpath in the busy area were fully operational on Tuesday 11 March.
Posting photos of the brightly lit road on the Love Portarlington social media page, administrators thanked the local authority for restoring all 21 lights, which they said had been out of order for 18 months.
The news got a relieved response, with one woman commenting: ‘We can finally walk around there safely.”
The welcome if long-overdue illumination came after representations to Laois County Council by Portarlington Community Development Association (PCDA) chairman Aidan Mullally.
Independent councillor Aidan Mullins had also repeatedly called for the lights to be fixed, with a series of motions at meetings of Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District.
At the latest district meeting, Cllr Mullins said it was “not acceptable” that the road was in darkness for well over a year and he was “nearly afraid to answer the phone” to residents.
Kilkenny-based contractor Killaree Lighting Services, which maintains public lighting for Laois County Council and a number of other local authorities, has repeatedly come under fire at council meetings over lengthy delays in fixing street lights all over the county.
As previously reported, Mountmellick councillor Paddy Bracken declared that the contractor should be sacked for providing a “disgraceful” service. He told the February meeting of Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick Municipal District that he was “ashamed” to have so many people contacting him over lights left unrepaired for months.
His views were echoed at a Graiguecullen-Portarlington meeting by Killeen-based Cllr Aisling Moran, who said that Killaree Lighting Services should be replaced.
Claiming that lighting repairs are completed on average within ten days in Carlow, compared to ten weeks in Laois, Cllr Moran said: “We have one person (contractor) for all those lights. It is bananas. We should get someone else.”
