User:rorynoonanDate:30/03/2013Time:11:24:11Edition:01/04/2013ACACfor010413Page:1Color:
AC - V1
ALL ABOUT CORK 1
(YHQLQJ (FKR Monday, April 1, 2013
Monday, April 1
Lighting fund only covers two per ward
Councillors’ fury at meagre budget CITY councillors are incensed after being told there is only enough money to upgrade two street lights in each of Cork’s six wards.
Referring to the situation as a “jokeâ€?, Independent councillor Mick Finn repeated his call for the council to be able to prioritise the money they received from the Government and spend it as they see fit. “We were told that we have as little as â‚Ź2,300 to upgrade lighting — which means we can only upgrade two public lights in the entire ward,â€? he said. “We have around â‚Ź67,000 for road resurfacing between now and April 2014, with priority given to Plunkett Road and The Green in Ballyphehane. “There is money for traffic calming and no new money for laneway closures,â€? he explained. Cllr Finn said that the “paltryâ€? monies made available to members for the South Central Ward were hard to take, given the increases in motor tax, the household charge and the impending household tax.
By ALAN HEALY
Cllr Finn said he hoped that lighting projects in The Lough would still go ahead and that plans to make Douglas Street one-way could still be advanced by 2014. “It’s very hard to take, when you see money wasted on cycle lanes that disappear after a few hundred metres on roads that weren’t designed for such measures in the first place.â€? Sinn FĂŠin’s councillor Mick Nugent said that funding to Cork City Council has been cut by almost â‚Ź10m since 2010. “Local councils are being starved of funding from central Government and local democracy is being diluted as a result,â€? he said. “You only have to drive down any road in the city at the moment to see the evidence of this in the form of potholes. “Some would be better described as craters. “This is not only a maintenance issue but it is also rapidly becoming a very serious safety concern,â€? he said.
Winner of Miss Universe Cork Nicola Meldrum from Monkstown at the Miss Universe Cork finals in the Rochestown Park Hotel. See pages two and three for a photo special from the event. Picture: Darragh Kane