The Galway City Council has refuted claims by a local councillor that there is no salt supply to deal with the cold snap and resulting icy roads, adding that a sufficient supply of salt has been utilised by staff twice a day and even more salt is on the way.
A spokesperson for Galway City Council said that lessons had been learnt, both locally and nationally, from the salt shortage problems that occurred during the big freeze last year, and that the National Roads Authority has been supplying local authorities with “sufficient salt stock”. Mr Gary McMahon added that since Friday the council had 100 tonnes of salt and 60 tonnes of grit, and that a further 120 tonnes of salt had been ordered last Monday from the NRA which was due to be delivered yesterday afternoon.
However, city Fine Gael councillor Padraig Conneely said ealier this week “there is no salt” in the city, and the council has “again failed to deal with the severe conditions in the city”.
Speaking to the Advertiser yesterday Mr McMahon dismissed these claims saying that council staff have been out salting and that from Tuesday particular attention has been paid to a number of housing estates, especially those with steep slopes.
“Staff have been out salting at 6am and then some time in the evening to keep national routes open, the regional routes, and then local routes. They’re not going to be able to get to every road and estate but the situation is being continually reviewed and monitored. So far we’ve been able to keep on top of things. There are three trucks out there, two large and one smaller one to get into the estates.
“The NRA are making sure sufficient salt stocks are available to local authorities. There is also sufficient gritting for the city, which can sourced locally. Locally and nationally we have learnt our lesson from last year, and the NRA were asked to provide a centralised procurement of salt,” said Mr McMahon.
The council has also been making contact with representatives of 25 local residents’ associations with the offer to drop one tonne of grit to estates and it is expected that demand for this service will increase in the coming days.
Meanwhile there have been reports of many dificulties throughout the county. According to a statement from Galway County Council: “National primary and other priority routes have been salted” and a “road gritting regime” has been organised for specific roads. However drivers are still warned not to assume the roads are safe and caution needs to be taken on all routes. People are also being asked to clear snow from outside their homes and business premises, and to assist neighbours.
Forecasts from Met Eireann suggest that the weather will turn very cold today with freezing fog expected in inland areas and some snow showers in the western part of the county. The cold chill will conitinue into tonight with some wintery showers expected on the west coast and temperatures dropping to between -5 and -12C on a county-wide basis, and possibly setting a record low. Outbreaks of rain are expected tomorrow which could turn to sleet and snow as they move inland and by nightfall there could be wide-spread sharp frost. On Saturday there may be some showers in the western half of the county. By Saturday night there is the threat of severe frost, and temperatures on Sunday could be between 1 and 2C.
