17 Jan 2011, 17:02
The impact and response of City and County Councils to the effects of the recent extreme weather will be investigated at tomorrow’s (18th) meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
Representatives from the County and City Managers Association will face questions at the meeting regarding the impact of the big freeze on road conditions and the current status regarding the supply of drinking water.
The meeting will take place at 3:30 pm in Committee Room 3 of Leinster House.
Committee Chairman, Seán Fleming TD said;
“There was an unprecedented loss of water in many regions which saw restrictions being placed in many places throughout the country. In some areas there are still limits in place which has meant a major inconvenience for households and businesses.
There has been some criticism of Councils and their reactions to the weather related events and suggestions that they were not sufficiently resourced to deal with the effects of the thaw. We intend to establish the current situation regarding water supply and consider the effectiveness of the Councils’ response.
The Committee will also scrutinise the performance of the local authorities with regard to keeping roads passable during the cold snap. We will be asking them if enough was done to keep roads open as well as finding out how local authorities are progressing with repairing roads damaged by the weather.
We specifically decided to call in the City and County Managers as they were the ones on the front line dealing with the extreme weather.”
END
Daniel English
Oireachtas Communications Office
01 618 4484
087 6949926
Committee Membership
Sean Fleming TD, Fianna Fáil, Chairman
Padraic McCormack TD, Fine Gael, Vice Chairman
Christy O'Sullivan TD, Fianna Fáil
James Bannon TD, Fine Gael
Phil Hogan TD, Fine Gael
Joanna Tuffy TD, Labour Party
John O'Donoghue TD, Fianna Fáil
Johnny Brady TD, Fianna Fáil
Eamon Scanlon TD, Fianna Fáil
Michael Fitzpatrick TD, Fianna Fáil
Ciaran Lynch TD, Labour Party
Sen Camilus Gylnn, Fianna Fáil
Sen Paudie Coffey, Fine Gael
Sen Ciaran Cannon, Fine Gael
Sen Dominic Hannigan, Labour Party