Pot holes are so deep on some of Waterford’s roads that you could nearly drown in them, it was claimed at the July meeting of the Metropolitan District Council.
Cllr Davy Daniels conceded he might have been exaggerating the situation but insisted that many roads were in a dangerous state and hub caps were regularly jolted from car wheels.
He sought a phased programme of road maintenance and was supported by Cllr Cha O’Neill who said that while bus routes were “like billiard tables”, roads within some housing estates had been neglected for years.
Cllr Joe Conway said that, worse than that, there were mature estates in Tramore which had not had a lick of tarmac for 40 years. He referred to Doneraile Walk, which he said urgently needed €17,000 for a renovation programme.
But Cllr John Carey expressed a contrary view, accusing his colleagues of unfair criticism while maintaining that more money had been spent recently on roads in Gaultier than ever before.
At the same meeting, Cllr Davy Daniels enquired about negotiations for the development of the former Bord Gáis site at Waterside for public car parking.
He was told by Council official Ray Mannix that the development had been delayed because tenders submitted last year for the project were significantly higher than anticipated and the finance was not available. Talks were to be held last Friday aimed at progressing the plan.
Cllr Daniels expressed disappointment and called on Bord Gáis “to come up trumps” and contribute the necessary funding, stating that the Council had dealt very fairly with them in the past.
