Cootehill Town Council

Local authority to stockpile grit? Cootehill's area engineer has admitted that some roads in the region couldn't be salted when temperatures were at their lowest recently because of a lack of finance. Pat Gaynor informed local town councillors at their January monthly meeting that while it would be "lovely to be able to salt every road in the area it's not possible because we haven't the money". Mr. Gaynor said the local authority was considering the feasibility of providing salt barns or bins in two locations around Cootehill going forward. He explained that Cavan County Council was in the process of creating areas within our quarries where it can store salt long-term and have stockpiles. Mr. Gaynor explained that during the course of the recent big freeze, reserves of grit were placed in 13 different locations around Cootehill for locals to access. Contrary to reports, which appeared in the media, he wasn't aware of any of those reserves being abused for selfish or monetary reasons, at least not in the Cootehill engineering area. Cllr. Aidan Boyle wondered whether Cavan County Council would consider using excess chippings from road resurfacing work during the summer as grit for the county's roads during periods of frost and snow in the winter. Responding, Mr. Gaynor said that while grit and chippings are both helpful in making roads safer during cold snaps, the chippings - unlike the grit - fail to melt in the snow and thus pose a hazard to traffic to motorists thereafter. Seeking greater garda presence A town councillor believes Cootehill is understaffed with gardaí and claims that while there are 30 gardaí currently based in Bailieboro, only eight are stationed in Cootehill, a town of similar size and population. Cllr. Michael McCarey's call for a more equitable distribution of gardaí between the two towns received the unanimous backing of his colleagues. He proposed that the council write to the Minister for Justice on the issue. This was duly seconded by Cllr. Aidan Boyle. Cllr. McCarey said the fact a garda patrol car may be up to 25 miles away from Cootehill at any given time was a matter of great concern to the townspeople, especially in the event of criminal activity breaking out in Cootehill during the hours of night. For his part, Cllr. Don Smith believed that Cootehill needed a garda presence on a 24-hour basis and also a patrol car specifically dedicated to covering the Cootehill area. Cllr. Damien Kivlehan said there was a greater need for gardai to be on duty during night time hours and it was his view that more gardaí were needed for this to happen in Cootehill. Cllr. Vincent McCaul claimed that while four gardaí used to live in the vicinity of the town some years ago, only one did so now, which was far from ideal in terms of garnering local information. This point was echoed by Cllr. Sean Igoe who suggested that "the day the squad car was introduced to the area was the day investigative policing went out the window". Peter Gallagher, Cavan County Council's delegated officer for Cootehill, suggested that the councillors' concerns could be raised at the soon-to-be-established Joint Policing Committee. Mr. Gallagher joined with the councillors at the meeting in encouraging members of local voluntary organisations to allow their names (three in total) to go forward as representatives of the local community on the Joint Policing Committee.