Councillor demands better maintenance of manhole covers

The dangers posed to the public by broken or loose manhole covers and delays in getting them fixed were highlighted by a Fianna Fail councillor at a recent county council meeting.

Paul McCabe said there was hardly a councillor in the council chamber who was not contacted by a member of the public complaining about defective manhole covers or utility chamber covers outside their homes or businesses.

“The trouble is that there is a lack of proper maintenance and the lack of a proper repair team to deal with these covers which are on public roads and footpaths. Some of the holes do pose a significant threat to public safety. They have in the past caused damage to cars and they keep people awake at night because of the rattles as vehicles cross them”.

From his own experience, and he knew this was shared by colleagues, was that there is difficulty in the first instance in reporting faulty or missing covers because they were the property of the utility companies themselves rather than Meath Co Council, Cllr McCabe said.

“Certainly, a certain paralysis creeps in when you go to report these things . I have a number of manhole covers that I am trying to rectify at the moment belonging to Irish Water, ESB and other utility companies. It is very, very difficult to get a resolution. These broken or impaired covers pose a great difficulty for people with impaired mobility and those people who are wheelchair users”. He was aware of a wheelchair user in Kells who was stuck on a manhole cover that has recessed and collapsed and that person required assistance from other members of the public.

“There really should be a standing obligation on utility companies to ensure that covers were completely flush with their surroundings.

Meath has 3,548 kilometres of roads and that was not taking into account footpaths. The councillor said he was aware that utility companies were solely responsible for the repair and maintenance of the covers. In a motion put to the council and supported by Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons, Cllr McCabe called for attention to the issue and a streamlined method of reporting faulty covers should be introduced.

Independent Cllr Trevor Golden wondered who would be liable if a person or vehicle had an accident caused by a faulty or broken cover.

Social Democrat Cllr Ronan Moore said a number of studies had been done alongside community groups in the Trim district and they were able to tell the council what issues were affecting people.

“We tended to work with the local engineers. When the utility companies have been told there is an issue and then somebody trips or falls as a result, there is a paper trail of the complaint and they tend to be more responsive to complaints,” Cllr Moore said.

Fine Gael Cllr Alan Tobin said in Ashbourne councillors reported these issues to the area engineer and he would come out and get onto the responsible utility companies.