Emergency services praised by councillors for their ‘huge work’ during the big freeze

THE extraordinary part played by Carlow County Council, the local fire service, ambulance service and Civil Defence in tackling the severe weather event that gripped the county was lauded at last week’s council meeting.

Cathaoirleach cllr Fergal Browne complimented the “huge work” done, adding that council staff had gone “above and beyond the call of duty”, both in terms of the co-ordination team based at the council offices and those working on the ground.

“I wish to compliment all the staff,” he added.

Cllr Charlie Murphy remarked that the snow ploughs were out immediately, which was an advantage in keeping many of the roads open. He particularly complimented Lilly Sly, Pat Harrington and the Tullow Municipal District team for all their help in the Myshall/Fenagh area, one of the places worst affected. Cllr Murphy suggested that the council should look at clearing the roads within housing estates in the future, adding that if this had been done it would “have saved people a lot of hardship”.

“The policy of not doing housing estates is something we will have to look at,” he added.

Cllr Tommy Kinsella also thanked council staff, including Lily Sly, complimenting the effort made and willingness to answer phones out of hours. This was echoed by cllr Daniel Pender, who congratulated council staff, adding that “some teething problems”, such as those experienced in estates, would be resolved in the future if bags of sand were made available in advance.

Cllr Fintan Phelan paid tribute to Carlow MD’s Cian Madden, Kieran Brennan and all the council staff “from the top down”, who “ensured that the town was kept moving”. He also complimented acting chief fire officer Ben Woodhouse and the co-ordination team for its quick response to the situation.

Cllr Brian O’Donoghue recalled the quote ‘the attitude of a team is a reflection of the leadership’ and offered his congratulations to chief executive Coilín O’Reilly and the entire council team. “It is remarkable that we got through the week as well as we did,” he said.

Cllr Will Paton also praised the council staff, the chief executive and area engineer, adding that they did everything “not to make a bad situation worse”.

Referring to what he called the “moaners and groaners”, cllr Paton stated that, given the scale of the task, it was impossible to tackle “every road, every footpath and every estate” in the county. “Never in a month of Sundays, given the resources we have, could it have been done,” he said.

Cllr Paton did, however, suggest that, in future, salt and sand be made available in Tullow two days in advance of an upcoming cold-weather event.

Cllr John Cassin also agreed that sand and salt be made available earlier to allow people the opportunity to tackle the work themselves. “But overall, council staff were working long hours throughout and they can hold their head up high that they kept the county moving and safe,” he added.

Cllr Paul Doogue also complimented Cian Madden and the information made available “24/7 from the top down”, while cllr Andrea Dalton added that key to the success was the level of communication, with people able to see through social media the work being done.

“We don’t have the resources to clear every estate in Carlow, but absolutely, if salt was made available, it does give people the opportunity to do the work themselves.” Chief executive Coilín O’Reilly thanked members for the comments, adding that all council staff had “put their shoulder to the wheel”, including members of the Civil Defence, who he said are volunteers and had been “amazing”.

“I am conscious of the lads on the shovels. While we were working in nice, warm offices, there were people out in the cold constantly for five days and they are the people I’m particularly thinking of,” he said.

Mr O’Reilly agreed that communication and letting the public know what the council is doing was very important.

Cllr Browne also criticised the colour-coded warnings, adding that perhaps they should be more specific in terms of electoral districts rather than an entire county.