by Alan Jacques
FINE Gael councillor Tom Neville has lashed out at Limerick City and County Council accusing it of undermining his credibility in failing to erect two children at play signs.
Cllr Neville had a question on the agenda of this month’s Adare-Rathkeale municipal district meeting calling for an update on the erection of signs on the Kilmacat Road in Kildimo and the road from Cussons Cross to Normoyles Cross in Adare.
In response the local authority’s operations manager (west and south division) Brian Kennedy said, “There is a presumption that ‘children at play’ signage on rural roads is not appropriate where the general speed limit applies.”
Mr Kennedy said it was the responsibility of a driver to obey a speed limit and to ensure that the vehicle speed is appropriate for the prevailing circumstances, even if their speed is lower than the speed limit applying.
Cllr Neville was unhappy with the response. Furious that he has been calling for the children at play signs to be put up for the last six months without any progress, he told the council executive that he felt “exasperated” by their failure.
The councillor asked if there was a “blockage mechanism” in place to prevent public representatives from doing their jobs.
“All I’m asking for is two bloody signs. Is there anything we can get anymore?” he fumed.
“Im getting the same answer I got six months ago. I am getting the feeling you are not taking on board what is being said. What is the protocol for it to be taken on board? I just feel you are not listening and I can’t understand why this won’t be done,” said Cllr Neville.
The local authority’s area engineer for Adare-Rathkeale, Ben Noonan, told the Fine Gael councillor that he would follow-up on his query. He informed Cllr Neville that the council has numerous requests for signage under review at the moment. He also pointed out that the municipal district covered 950kms of road including national roads, with 866kms of the area made up of rural road.
When queried by Cllr Neville, Mr Noonan revealed that there is currently only four requests in the Adare-Rathkeale district for road signs.
