Road signs are being stolen off poles every day, a councillor alleged at the monthly meeting of the Claremorris Municipal District this week.
Fine Gael councillor Patsy O'Brien told the meeting: "Signage is being stolen every single day in this county." He later added: "You have to have signage, nobody can do without it. I can bring you out today and show you where there is no signage and we can talk road safety and everything else but yet we don't sort that out, it is an issue a lot of councillors are getting on a daily basis."
Independent councillor Richard Finn agreed with Cllr O'Brien, saying: "We have an issue with signage and pilfering," adding that he had written a number of emails to the council in relation to the issue.
Cllr O'Brien raised the issue after attending a meeting on Wednesday night with local residents near Colleran's Cross, where he said the crossroads has been without signage for more than two years. He said: "I attended a meeting last night with Cllr Connolly and Cllr Finn has raised this before — it is in relation to sign posts at Colleran's Cross — the signage has been missing for two years now, so they are telling us out there. Surely it doesn't take two years to come up with directional signs, there is a lot of grief over it out there.
"I will say again, signage is being stolen every single day in this county. I don't know how many places I was in last week and we have another one at Sheridan's Cross, another place there is not a sign left for a couple of months now."
Cllr O'Brien went on to call for the yield signs on local roads to be replaced with stop signs, as they were a relic of the past, saying: "We have yield right of way signs — they are gone. Every yield right of way sign in this county should be taken down, they don't serve any purpose; it is a stop any more, forget about the yield. I don't know when it worked, back when we had the horse and cart I'd say."
He also said that while he knew that council staff were stretched when it came to safety issues, they had to be done. "I know there is a shortage of staff, but I think, to be quite honest, and I know from my work with Irish Rail, that when it comes to safety, money has to be found and contractors, if the staff are not there or have the time to do it,"
The elected members were assured by the council that the signs had been ordered for Colleran's Cross and should be in place shortly.
