Councillors are calling for an emergency meeting to take place to review the routes around Kerry that get salted and treated in cold and icy weather.
At Monday’s monthly meeting of Kerry County Council, it was agreed the council would review the priority routes and roads in the winter maintenance plan.
Councillors were told that it would be fully reviewed in time for the Transport Strategic Policy Committee meeting in mid-February.
However, given the current cold weather councillors called for an emergency meeting to take place to address issues sooner.
Concerns relating to the conditions of roads around the county were raised at the Castleisland Corca Dhuibhne MD meeting by councillors Michael O’Shea, Charlie Farrelly, Fionnán Fitzgerald and Jackie Healy-Rae.
Cllr Healy-Rae proposed an emergency meeting take place, saying mid-February wasn’t good enough if the current spell of cold weather was going to become more frequent.
Cllr Farrelly seconded this call, stating there were seven collisions on the L-2032 in Glountane, Cordal on Tuesday night due to poor conditions, adding cars were upside down as a result.
He stated the biggest problem here was that year-round, Google Maps is sending cars, campervans and buses that are traveling in the Cork direction on this route, instead of the main Scartaglen road.
Cllr Charlie Farrelly says this route is just six minutes faster but isn’t suitable and fears someone will be killed there; he says many of those involved in Tuesday night’s accidents were travelling from Castleisland to Mallow and Cork, using Google Maps.
Cllr Michael O’Shea called for an update on the winter plan to be provided, while Fionnán Fitzgerald called for a review to take place, adding emergency services can't get to people if routes become impassable.
The council says a full review of priority routes in its winter maintenance plan will be undertaken and referred to the Transport SPC for consideration and the councillors’ concerns will be taken into account.
