Down a hundred in number due to the government’s recruitment embargo, Waterford County Council’s already stretched outdoor staff must be deployed to do the most urgent work, Tramore Manager Brian White told the May meeting of the local Town Council.
He was responding to queries from Cllrs Joe Conway and Tom Raine as to why footpaths at Roselawn and Newtown had not been completed.
Cllr Conway complained that footpaths and other jobs were often left unfinished as workmen were redeployed to other tasks and it was demoralising for the town’s self-image.
Cllr Raine said the footpath to which he was referring – only about a hundred yards in length – was part of Sli Na Slainte and it was a year since work commenced on it.
The Manager agreed to have a look at it but Town Clerk John O’Sullivan informed the members that there were only ten Council workmen in the town, one ‘skilled’, and they were set to lose one of that number through retirement. When a group of them were engaged on a job and something more urgent arose then they had to be transferred.
Mr White reiterated those facts and said the truth of the matter was that the men, although versatile, were stretched after losing some of their colleagues due to the government cutbacks.
Cllr Lola O’Sullivan suggested that because Tramore was a premier resort staff should be transferred there, when required, from other parts of the county.
Bus service plea
At Tramore Town Council’s May meeting Maxine Keoghan pleaded with Bus Eireann to extend its bus service in the resort to cater for new housing estates and the additional “traffic” generated by Tesco and Lidl.
Cllr Lola O’Sullivan agreed that a review of the service was required, with particular emphasis on catering for the elderly and for parents with buggies.
Cllr Joe Conway said there was a crying need for more bus shelters on Ring Road but he was told by Cllr Blaise Hannigan that the company which provided them simply wasn’t interested because of a lack of advertising.
Cemetery
Cllr Keoghan also sought improved signage to St Declans Cemetery and marked parking spaces outside the burial ground. She said strangers often didn’t know how to get from church to graveyard.
Second house levy
At the May meeting of Tramore Town Council Cllr Joe O’Shea asked to what extent the resort would benefit from the €909,000 generated in the county by the ‘second home levy’.
He was told by Town Manager Brian White the money was raised county-wide and would be used for the whole of the county.
A healthy kitty
Tramore Town Council’s expenditure last year amounted to €117,790, Town Manager Brian White informed the Council’s May meeting. There was an overspend of nearly €44,000 but that came from a healthy ‘kitty’ and they are still ‘in funds’. The largest sums were spent on tourism and development (€37,000), Doneraile improvements (€17,000) and the local elections (€17,000). Cllr Ann Marie Power thanked the Manager for his prudent accounting.
Money for beach clean
Area Engineer Jane O’Neill reported to the May meeting of Tramore Town Council that some funding had been provided for the employment of students for beach cleaning over the summer months.
She said she was currently in the process of sourcing replacement paving for the prom wall and repairs would be carried out as soon as possible.
The second phase of repairs to The Ladies Slip will get underway if funding becomes available.
The footpath programme is on hold and is due to restart in mid July, with completion scheduled for mid-September.
