Writes Ciaran Dineen
Councillors in the Carrigaline Local Electoral Area (LEA) have called on Cork County Council’s Carrigaline District office to make street-cleaning an annual service following inaugural success.
In response to the impacts of Covid-19, the Main Streets of Carrigaline and Passage West were deep-cleaned last summer, using funding allocated through Cork County Council’s Project Act. Local Councillors are now calling for it to become an annual feature of the Council’s operations in the LEA, with the item arising in this week’s meeting of the Municipal District (MD).
A number of local representatives commented on how successful the summer clean was, indicating that a number of residents in Passage West and Carrigaline had commented positively on the impact that it made for their town centres.
Councillors Seámus McGrath (FF), Marcia D’Alton (Ind), Audrey Buckley (FF) and MD chair Aidan Lombard (FG) all commented on the need for the Council to set aside funding for future cleaning, even if it meant that it would come from the Town Development Fund (TDF) budget.
The deep-cleans were “very well received” according to Cllr McGrath, who called on the Council to budget for it once again through funding in 2021. Meanwhile Cllr D’Alton indicated that she would like to see it become an annual occurrence, using the TDF if money could not be sourced from elsewhere.
Cllr Buckley added that while Crosshaven wasen’t part of the Council’s deep-clean, a local business had provided something similar last year “out of community spirit”. Finally, Cllr Lombard commented that he would love to see the cleaning extended to the rural villages in the district where possible, indicating that this was the exact type of work that should be carried out by the Council.
Carrigaline District Officer, Madeline Healy, taking on this feedback responded by saying that the cost of conducting the deep-clean was quite high, believing that it was about €10,000 but this needed to be confirmed. Furthermore, that cost only covered the streets of Carrigaline and Passage West, meaning that if a wider clean was to be done to cover other parts of the district then this would require a large chunk of funding.
In response Cllr McGrath appreciated the thoughts of the district officer and suggested that maybe it was an issue that deserved to be looked at during the next meeting of the MD, adding that he believed this was a perfect example of exactly what the Council “should be about”.
Cllr Lombard agreed with his colleague, saying that there was a great deal of positivity from the cleaning last year and that it should be considered again in 2021.