Council waiting on ESB help to fix 155 public lights in Cork city

A total of 155 public lights in Cork city are currently inoperable due to delays with ESB sending out crews to assist the council with connecting them, as the energy body is repairing fewer than eight lights a month, new figures have revealed.

The figures show that it would take a year and eight months to repair all the lights that are currently out of action, if repairs continue at the same rate, with this figure not accounting for any other lights that will go out in the interim.

An ESB spokesperson told The Echo: “Some public lighting faults in Cork city may require the attendance of ESB Networks crews to resolve. In such cases, crews are dispatched following a request from the local authority.

“For the majority of public lighting faults, ESB Networks crew involvement is not necessary for repair work to proceed. Where our attendance is requested, ESB Networks prioritises public safety and ensures crews are made available accordingly.”

Fine Gael councillor Shane O’Callaghan asked the council to outline how many public lights in Cork, which require the assistance of the ESB to either install or repair, are currently inoperative.

He also asked them to detail approximately how many of these lights are being installed and repaired per month, and whether the provision of more resources and assistance by the ESB would result in more inoperative public lights being repaired in the city.

Noel Murtagh, the council’s acting director of local area development and operations, told him at Monday night’s council meeting: “As of September 2, 2025, the total number of lights requiring ESB assistance is 155”, adding that “this breaks down to 42 in the North West ward, 34 in the North East, 24 in the South West, 25 in South Central, and 30 in South East.”

Mr Murtagh added that 62 job tickets which required ESB attendance/assistance on site have been rectified between January 1 and September 2.

“Increased ESB attendance/assistance of ESB Networks technicians will lead to the reduction of faulty public lighting lanterns across the city,” he said.

“It will also lead to the reduced lead time in the energisation of new public lighting customer service pillar associated with the public lighting capital project which stands at two months from submittal of the electrical cert.”

Mr O’Callaghan told The Echo: “The fact that there are 155 lights out which are essentially waiting on the ESB is simply not good enough, and city council are doing everything they can to ensure that public lighting is connected and repaired as quickly as possible.

“The ESB have not put in sufficient resources and manpower, which is proven by the response, showing that even though 155 lights are out, over the last eight months only 62 have been repaired, which amounts to less than eight per month.

“The backlog is going to keep building up, and there are going to be more and more lights out in the city, particularly coming up to winter, and it’s not the council’s fault.”