‘It’s simply not good enough!’ – McCartin

In what looks to put elected members in Leitrim on a collision course with Cavan County Council, the local authority has been roundly criticised for its perceived failure to enact its own policy regarding the removal of advertising signage.

Proposed by Fine Gael's John McCartin, and adopted at the Ballinamore Municipal District meeting last Monday , the policy will be to remove “wholesale illegal and disfiguring” road side signage in north county Leitrim.
The policy is similar to that adopted by Cavan County Council and the now defunct Cavan Town Council on July 13, 2012.
The policy, the local authority outlined at the time, would be to use powers under: Litter Pollution Act 1997 as amended; Planning and Development Act 2000 as amended; and Roads Act 1993 as amended to remove signage.
However, Cllr McCartin has accused Cavan County Council of acting in “flagrant disregard” of its own policy.
“Our aim is to tackle the blight of ugly and illegal signage that is springing up everywhere,” said Cllr McCartin, who was also part of the management buyout of the Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) business in 2014.
As recently as the weekend, and not long after QIH reported pre-tax profits of €10.8m for 2017, new anti current Quinn company management signage appeared on approach roads to Quinn manufacturing facilities on the outskirts of Ballyconnell.
He says the business has in the past queried Cavan County Council's position on the erection of roadside signage but contends that the local authority “failed to act”.
Cllr McCartin told The Anglo-Celt: “I'm not even talking about those signs, it goes for any illegal roadside signage. It is very unfair for us to expect Leitrim County Council to keep our house in order when just feet over the county boundary into Cavan you have signage disfiguring the landscape on nearly every road.”
He added that the Cavan council's “flagrant disregard for its own policy has allowed actions like this to carry on. Its' simply not good enough.”
 

Council statement

Cavan County Council issued the following statement in relation to the allegations:
‘There is an ongoing issue with the placing of unauthorised signage along public roads in Cavan and the local authority removes such signage as time and resources allow. In the interests of public safety, priority is given to the removal of signage that is placed near junctions and causes an obstruction to motorists and/or pedestrians.
‘Signs that do not present an immediate safety hazard, and that may be located on private land are removed as soon as is practicable, however, the impending referendum and the associated increase in political postering has placed an increased strain on resources, causing a delay in the removal of some unauthorised signs.