No offers to resurface road to Calvery in huge Laois cemetery

No contractors has answered a call for prices to resurface a road in a huge Laois cemetery, with questions asked by Portlaoise councillors why.

All the paths reportedly are in poor condition at St Peter & Paul's Cemetery in Portlaoise, a particular concern because many of the people who come to visit loved ones interred there are elderly or have mobility issues.

Laois County Council has stated said that no tenders were received after they advertised the job last December, of resurfacing the road to the Calvary in St Peter & Paul's cemetery in Portlaoise.

Cllr Willie Aird tabled a motion to the January meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District to ask when the work is starting.

He said he has "never seen a response like it", given by senior engineer Ken Morley.

"It's not Ken's fault, the money was provided. I've never seen a response like it that you got no-one back, no-one is interested in doing the work. I hope the conditions are not so severe that no-one is interested.

"It's difficult enough to get money, but to get no-one to tender. Can you highlight when a tender appears, that those who might be interested be contacted. This is up along the wall to Calvary. It needs to be resurfaced," he said.

Cllr Noel Tuohy seconded.

"Any assistance we can give to the excellent committee, they come in there and open the gates in the morning and lock them in the evening. Myselve and Cllr Dwane Stanley are on the committee, we know how hard they work," he said.

People are complaining about the footpaths in St Peter & Paul's said Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald.

"The biggest complaints I get is about the footpaths. If we all put our discretionary money into them, we'd be dead and buried before they were all done. Is there any more funding we can get? It is the most used area in Portlaoise. I was there in the morning and saw seven or eight cars," she said.

She estimates that 80% of the footpaths in the cemetery need resurfacing.

"So many are bad," she said.

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Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said "a lot of elderly go up there, with mobility issues. That's the reality. I acknowledge the work done by the committee on the altar, it's a small ask to the council to do their bit," she said.

The Cathaoirleach Cllr Barry Walsh wants to know if other tenders get no response.

"I'd like to get an analysis of tenders not responsed to and see why they are not responded to," he said.

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The Town Manager is Director of Services Simon Walton.

"It is not totally unusual that we did not get responses. It may be for a lot of reasons, it was coming up to the end of the year and people may be committed to finishing other works for grant drawdowns. Normally we get two or three responses, but it wouldn't be the first time that we got none," he said.

The tender will be readvertised in March to May this year.