One set of city centre traffic lights remained out of order for 93 days last year, and five sets of lights had more than 10 faults in the year, a Cork TD has been told.

Traffic lights at the junction of Lancaster Quay and Mardyke St were out of order and remained unrepaired for three months last year, according to data obtained from Cork City Council under a freedom of information request by Cork North Central Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould.

Cork City Council had 745 traffic light outages across the city in the past year, with the average repair time taking 2.93 days.

Some 63 traffic light outages took more than seven days to repair, and 14 sets of lights were out of order for longer than 30 days.

Seven sets of traffic lights had 10 or more outages last year, the figures released to Mr Gould show.

The lights at the Bull McCabe’s junction of the Kinsale Road, Airport Road, and Forge Hill were out of order 13 times last year, as were the lights at Riverstown Cross, and those at the junction of Evergreen Road and Summerhill South.

Traffic lights at Boreenmanna Rd and Wallace’s Avenue suffered 12 outages last year, as did the lights at Tinkers Cross in Mayfield.

Lights at the junction of College Road and Highfield Avenue were out of action 11 times in 2022, with the lights at Bishopstown Road and Wilton Avenue out 10 times.

Mr Gould expressed concern at the frequency and duration of traffic light outages in the city last year.

“The FOI data released to me by Cork City Council highlights the huge problem we have with traffic light faults in the city, and while some of these may be minor faults, we have to acknowledge the vital role traffic lights play in keeping people safe in the city,” the Sinn Féin TD said. “I met with Cork City Council recently and raised with them the need to start a log of all traffic light systems and their parts.

“Keeping on top of the lifespan of these parts and making sure sufficient replacements are in stock could dramatically reduce the wait times and make things much easier for those working on the ground.”

He said he had been told many of the city’s traffic light systems are so old that replacement parts are now difficult to source, and he called for a plan to replace older systems.

“No fault should take over three months to repair. That is a really shocking statistic, and that 9% took over seven days to resolve highlights that these situations are taking too long to fix." 

“Anecdotally, I have heard of a number of road traffic accidents this year because of traffic lights faults, and the statistics provide evidence to show that this is a big problem in the city.”

Mr Gould’s Sinn Féin colleague on Cork City Council, Kenneth Collins, said: “If there are issues with resourcing or sourcing parts, Cork City Council need to make this very clear so that we can work with Thomas to seek additional funding. Monitoring the parts, and knowing when they’re coming to the end of their lifespan, will ensure that no faults will be left while they wait for parts to be delivered.”

Cork City Council was asked for a comment.