'Night patrol' of broken streetlights as time nearly up for Laois contractor

Broken streetlights are not being repaired fast enough in Laois but the council is taking matters into their own hands, admitting that their contractor has fallen behind.

Laois County Council staff are going to drive on a "night patrol" of the county, to count all the lights that are not working.

There are almost 9,600 streetlights across Laois, and growing all the time as the council takes over more new housing estates, and installs new lights and pedestrian crossings.

The maintenance contract is coming up for renewal this summer.  Councillors have long been complaining at the length of time to get lights turned on, and there was criticism again of the current contractor at the March 31 meeting of Laois County Council.

The Chief Executive Michael Rainey spoke on the issue.

"I fully accept that the level of service is not good enough. This is reflected across the country. I spoke to five or six other local authorities. Let us go through this new process and we will try to hold the contractor to account," he said.

Director of Services Simon Walton said they are taking matters into their own hands.

"We do acknowledge there are challenges in the attainment of satisfactory standards of public lights. We are not alone in Laois. There is a general lack of resources and an increased demand, along with the impact of the bad weather. 

"In consultation with each Municipal District, we will undertake our own patrol of our own network, to do a night audit over a week. We will come back with a full list.

"We will prioritise repairs and communicate that to the contractor. The clocks have changed so it's not as big an issue but it will set the scene before the shorter evenings return," Mr Walton said.

Cllr Aisling Moran said that contracts should be terminated if the work is not done.

"When its being renewed, put a timeline on the contract to fix lights and if the workload is increased to increase staff. If they don't comply, the contract would be null and void so we can get rid of them," she suggests.

Mr Walton defended the contract.

"It is the same as other counties. The issue is the lack of resources to the contractor. It's not any fault we have compared to other counties. They are in the very same position, its not satisfactory. These companies are finding it hard to get staff and retain them.

"If we suspend or terminate the contractor, we'll have no service provider. Bad and all as it is, we still have lights being repaired. The tender will be put before you mid year. There will be a new contractor appointed before the end of the year. Hopefully the service will improve," he said.

Cllr Moran suggested asking the ESB if two contractors can be appointed. They only allow one per county for safety reasons.

Cllr Paddy Buggy said he is "getting it in the neck" from the public.

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"Everyone is in this room. It's bad form. the company is not living up to the terms of the contract to replace lights. the dissatisfaction of public representatives has to be relayed to them. Obviously they haven't enough staff," he said. 

Cllr Conor Bergin also said the service is not satisfactory, welcoming the upcoming new contract.