A review of Clare County Council’s road gritting policy is to be carried out in the wake of the big freeze.
Members of the Council heaped compliments and criticism on management at an extended meeting last night, with claims that a national state of emergency should have been called with direction from government instead of an inadequate and poor response.
The criticism focused mainly on the rural areas where local and regional roads have remained untreated, as the Council’s policy covers only main routes or 13% of the County Clare’s total roads network.
East Clare Councillor Joe Cooney said a major crisis had already emerged at Christmas and the army should have been called in then.
However the County Manager Tom Coughlan has refuted this stating that the local authority had been in contact with the army and that the council had the same capabilities as the army when it came to vehicles to access difficult and icy areas, and that the health and safety of staff had to be considered.
