Aontú Cllr in the Wexford People:Councillors gripe about massive gripes at Rosslare Municipal District meeting
Original Article: https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/news/councillors-gripe-about-massive-gripes-at-rosslare-municipal-district-meeting-41187782.html
The meetings of the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) regularly play host to plenty of gripes from the five elected councillors, but at the December sitting it was gripes of a different kind that was causing consternation.
These gripes are up to six feet deep and have claimed cars and tractors in various parts of the district in recent months. “There was a serious incident on the Garrison Road recently where a car slipped into a very deep gripe on the side of the road and ended up in a very dangerous position,” said Councillor Jim Codd to Roads Engineer Mark Collins.
“I just wanted to know if that gripe had been filled and piped, this is a problem in a number of areas around our district, at the hill of Brownscastle a tractor with a dump spreader slipped into one and couldn’t get out. We had the same problem in the back of Doyle’s in Tracystown, these need to be looked at, they’re very dangerous, if a car slips in people get an awful shock when they go into a six-foot gripe.”
“It is an issue on rural roads across the county, those haven’t been piped yet, we’ll have to take a look at them for next year and put them on sort of drainage scheme,” replied Mr Collins. While the sides or the roads are proving hazardous for some motorists, an entire stretch of road between Taghmon and Foulksmills was in danger of collapsing thanks to Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) according to Cllr Codd.
“Do you have any contact with the people who put in the gas unit in Taghmon, the road is subsiding under it, between Foulksmills and Taghmon,” he said. “They seem to be one of these groups who just walked away and left it, it’s collapsing in places.”
“We’ve been talking to GNI about that and we have to meet them early in the New Year to have a look at it and see what we can do,” replied Mr Collins. “But we will have to deal with it regardless of how they respond.”
Meanwhile, responding to a query from Councillor Frank Staples, Mr Collins said funding was available for a footpath scheme in Ballcogley and it was just a “matter of getting to the work and securing the contractors to do it”.
