“We can't have the town of Athlone in complete darkness”
A proposal for the use of a generator to tackle the public lighting crisis in the centre of Athlone was passed at this week's meeting of the local municipal district of Westmeath County Council, amid claims that “hundreds of lights” are not working across the town.
A councillor from another part of the country who was visiting Athlone for his daughter's graduation was “forced to take out his mobile phone and put on the torch” in order to make his way across the town bridge said Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, who described the public lighting in the town as “dysfunctional” and called for an urgent plan to be put in place to tackle the crisis.
Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran said parts of the town were “pure black at night” and he called for an emergency generator to be put in place to light up the area behind Athlone Castle “before somebody is killed.”
Having originally raised the lack of public lighting on a number of “anchor structures” in Athlone, including the town bridge, as far back as November 2022, a furious Cllr Aengus O'Rourke told this week's meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District that the only thing that had happened since then is that “there are even less public lights in working order now” which he added was “completely inexplicable”.
He detailed how a walk down by the side of the Shannon at night would leave pedestrians “in total darkness”.
This would also apply to a walk around by the back of Athlone Castle, the Fianna Fáil councilllor remarked. “If that isn't ample demonstration of the poor standards being tolerated by this council, then I don't know what is.”
'Boxer' Moran said he would like to see “some progress” being made on motions put forward by elected representatives. “All I see is questions, motions, debating and then nothing,” he claimed, “and it's not good enough.” He pointed out that the council and the ESB “have a duty” to ensure that the town of Athlone is properly lit up, and claimed that there are “hundreds of lights out all over the town.”
Cllr John Dolan suggested that representatives from the ESB should be brought before a municipal district meeting “so we can look into the whites of their eyes” while Mayor Frankie Keena said the fact that people had to put on their phone lights to get around the town in the dark “is completely unacceptable”
District Manager Willie Ryan said the council has a liaison officer who works in co-operation with the ESB, and suggested that he could attend the October meeting of the municipal district to give an update.
”It's November 2022 since I had a robust exchange with former Director of Services, Barry Kehoe, about the public lighting situation in Athlone, and nothing was done,” said a clearly-exasperated Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, “so no, I would not be happy to see the liaison officer coming here in October, the clocks are going back in a few weeks, and we are facing into another long winter of darkness in Athlone.”
Willie Ryan then suggested that the liaison officer could attend a meeting next week. “How about he attends one tomorrow?” interjected Cllr O'Rourke. "Does he not work full-time?”
The District Manager explained that the liaison officer has to “prioritise the areas of highest need” for public lighting repairs, but 'Boxer' Moran proposed that an emergency generator be put in place before the weekend “to shine down on the back of Athlone Castle” and said he was “not going to take no for an answer.”
The meeting passed the two proposals put before members, one from Cllr O'Rourke that an urgent plan be put in place to tackle the dysfunctional public lighting situation, and a second from Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran that a generator be installed before the weekend as an emergency measure to light up the area behind Athlone Castle.
However, Willie Ryan warned members that the installation of a generator would set an “unwelcome precedent” and one which had “never been seen before.”
“I disagree completely,” said 'Boxer'. “We can't have the town of Athlone in complete darkness.”