The company responsible for public lighting in Kerry is putting a mitigation plan in place to come back into line with the council contract it was awarded.
The issue of street lights not working was again raised at the recent Castleisland Corca Dhuibhne Municipal District meeting, with 33 faults in that MD now beyond the ten-day working period.
Kerry County Council says it’s tracking the company, Electric Skyline, on its performance in maintaining street lights to the required level.
The council maintains over 13,700 public lights in the county, and since July last year, the company Electric Skyline is contracted by the council to maintain public lighting in Kerry.
In accordance with this contract, Electric Skyline is supposed to maintain that at least 98.5% of all public lighting is working at any one time, and reported standard faults should be repaired within ten working days.
The council says around 97.3% of public lighting is currently operational, meaning that the company is falling short of its contractual agreement by over 1%, equal to over 140 individual lights.
The issue of street lighting not working was raised at the Castleisland Corca Dhuibhne MD meeting by several councillors, who have said some lights are out for months.
In reply to a motion from Independent councillor Charlie Farrelly, Kerry County Council said recent challenging weather events have placed further demands on the public lighting contractor and ESB Networks, which has stood down resources on several occasions to address critical works recently.
It said the council has met with senior management in Electric Skyline regarding concerns, and the commercial obligations of their contract with Kerry County Council.
The council said it will continue to monitor closely and manage the contractor.
Speaking at the meeting, MD Engineer Breda Mulryan said the company is putting a mitigation plan in place to come back in line with its contract.
Ms Mulryan said the company is being tracked on the level of public lighting operational as per its contract.
