ADVANCED NOTIFICATION of the road sweeper arriving to East Clare towns has been sought to allow for “a more thorough job” to be completed.
Killaloe based, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) asked that a roster be drawn up for the road sweeper operating in East Clare “so as that it can be advertised to local residents and help to keep as much as possible streets and roads clear”.
Use of the road sweeper has been assigned to the Killaloe Municipal District for three days out of each week.
Niamh Madden, senior executive engineer in the Killaloe MD admitted it would be difficult to put in place a set rota. “In order to ensure the full Municipal District receives attention, the sweeper is assigned to a different geographical area within the district on each of those three days. The sweeper is sent to locations where it is needed at that time and this need changes on a continuous basis,” she explained.
Often when road or drainage works are taking place, the sweeper will be required in rural settings, Madden added. “The extent and varied nature of works and locations where the road sweeper is required is so diverse, it is not possible to roster or to set a specific schedule for the road sweeper”.
She continued, “The Killaloe Municipal District endeavours to keep streets and roads clean in so far as is practically possible and when necessary, local residents will be alerted if the road sweeper requires attention”.
Cllr O’Brien maintained that “a consistent time within reason could be given” for the different areas. “The people of Killaloe, O’Briensbridge, Bridgetown, Broadford and the whole of East Clare would benefit from knowing when the sweeper is coming between particular hours and days so that they can park off the road and footpaths to allow a more through job to be done”.
“As it is now, the sweeper is driving around and no one knows when it is coming,” the former Bus Éireann employee added.
