Public conned into paying for free grit

The recent cold spell demonstrated the true grit and determination of certain individuals to make a quick buck in poor times. A number of opportunists were revealed to be "cashing in" at the expense of Cavan County Council by taking free grit available for public use and then charging private residences up to €40 to have it spread on their driveway and in front of their houses. The incident has rubbed salt into the wounds of the local authority's ailing finances as they fork out up to €15,000 a night to grit the county's roads. The details of the racket were revealed by a source close to the council. The grit has been placed by the local authority for public use at strategic locations around the county to be spread on the roads but certain individuals are taking advantage of the situation to earn a few euro. Three lorries could not get up a hill on the outskirts of Ballinagh early on Monday morning and had to wait until the road was eventually gritted by the council. A number of residences in housing estates around Cavan town had to abandon their cars at the entrance as they could not get to their homes because the roads were so bad. Prior to the annual estimate meeting on Friday last, the council held an emergency briefing on the roads and water for elected representatives. Joe McLoughlin, Director of Services, gave an up-to-date position around the county. The council had 3,000km of public roadway to look after consisting of 129km of national primary roads, 399km of regional roads, and 2,470km of local roads. Last year, the council spent €320,000 on national primary roads under its winter maintenance programme. "Priority is given to roads with the most heavy traffic," explained Mr. McLoughlin. An error of just one percent in the weather forecast meant a great deal to councils, he added. Since the start of the current spell, 90 tonnes of salt a night was being spread on the national, regional and main primary routes county wide, he claimed. Council workers were working up to ten hours a day gritting including over the Christmas period. Salt was made available to people but unfortunately they were using it for their own private avenue and not the public roads, Mr. McLoughlin stated. The price of salt was accelerating and prior to the cold sell, it was worth €39 per ton; it's now double that. "We have been quoted in excess of that. We are spending between €10 and €15,000 per night on the roads," outlined Mr. McLoughlin. He thanked all the council staff who carried out work over the Christmas period without being paid overtime. Householders and business owners also have role to play by clearing the footpath in front of their home or premises. Considerable progress would have been made if this had been done rather than waiting for someone else to do it, suggested Mr. McLoughlin. Cllr. Andrew Boylan said it was a credit to the council staff that they did more than they should have. Cllr. Gerry Murray said there is no way any local authority could carry the burden themselves and they had to be reimbursed from national government. He asked for clarification on a general belief that Cavan was supplying salt to Longford. Mr. McLoughlin said they were not aware of being reimbursed from national government. "We did provide two lorry loads of salt to Longford but it didn't affect our supplies. We have a reciprocal arrangement with other local authorities." A delivery of salt was received by the Council on Monday, with salt now in stock. An emergency plan will have to be drawn up for future reference, suggested Cllr. Murray. The farming community also had a major role to play as they had modern machines, which could be of benefit. Cllr. Charlie Boylan said 3,000km was a lot of roadway to maintain and being a drumlin county didn't help. With temperatures dropping down to -9 and -10 degrees it was unusual for Cavan but they had to be prepared for such weather conditions in the future.