asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he is aware that numerous accidents and serious inconvenience have been caused to persons using horse-drawn vehicles, and also to persons conveying live stock, owing to the slippery condition of tar macadam roads, and if he can say what steps his Department have taken to remove or remedy this menace to the travelling public.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tar Macadam Roads.
Attention has been drawn from time to time to cases of accidents arising through the slippery nature of modern road surfacings. The matter has been receiving the careful and constant attention of the technical officers of the Department in conjunction with the county surveyors. Suitable roads must be provided for modern traffic. A surfacing has not yet, however, been discovered which will stand up to mechanically-propelled traffic and, at the same time, be quite suitable for iron-shod horse traffic.
If horses are properly shod the modern road surfacing is not unsuitable. On the 12th March, 1930, a memorandum was issued to each County Council and to each Technical Instruction Committee on the shoeing of horses for traffic on modern roads.
The difficulties of all parties in the matter are, however, fully appreciated. On the technical side different expedients have been resorted to with some success, but not without expense.
Has the Minister's Department taken into account the losses to farmers through injury to cattle. My experience of the Co. Cavan, and it is probably the experience of others also, is that very serious loss is incurred by the farmer because of some very valuable cattle falling on the macadamised roads going to the fairs. It is not merely a question of the shoeing of horses altogether. It is a question of having a surface on the roads over which farmers can drive their cattle to the fairs.
The question of cattle has been before us, and while I have had some instances of accidents to cattle I never had the matter put before me by anybody in such a way that would enable us thoroughly to examine the question of accidents. I find in the city cattle do not slip on our road surfaces which are quite as smooth as the roads in the country, but I would be very glad to examine the matter with the technical officers of any particular County Council where a number of cases of injury to cattle have occurred with a view to seeing whether any particular steps can be taken in any particular area where there may be particular circumstances either to meet the situation or at any rate to have it thoroughly and frankly looked into.
Would the Minister not communicate with the County Councils upon the matter?
Of course we can always take the initiative in looking for a terrible lot of trouble. I think it would be more satisfactory to leave the local authorities who are close up against the local circumstances to size up the situation and see whether it is in any way serious, and then come to us with a proposal to have it examined or to institute some remedy. But, as I say, you could start an inquiry into this particular matter that would simply stir up a lot of representations of one kind or another that would not be very close down to earth. I would prefer to see representations coming from localities as to the actual case, so that we could really feel there was a real problem in that particular area.
I asked that question because, as the Minister is aware, there is no farmers' association in the County Cavan, and the only way to ascertain the information would be through the County Council.