Time devoted by ESB to fixing Cork city street lights 'unacceptable'

A Cork councillor has branded ESB confirmation that they set aside a single day each month for fixing streetlights in the city as “unacceptable and insulting” given the current backlog.

Public lighting is the responsibility of local authorities, but some faults require the attendance of ESB Networks crews to resolve. 

Cork City Council confirmed in September that a total of 155 public lights in Cork city were inoperable due to delays with ESB sending out crews to assist the council, and that less than eight were being repaired per month.

Faults

ESB Networks told The Echo that they “provide one dedicated day per month to address faults in Cork city." 

"ESB Networks continues to work closely with local authorities on proactive public lighting upgrade programmes across the city and county," they said. 

Fine Gael councillor Shane O’Callagan said this was not good enough.

"One day a month is absolutely farcical for the second biggest city in the State with a massive population, and a huge backlog as a direct result of the ESB not providing enough resources.

“This is not the fault of the council who are doing their bit but are left waiting on ESB. Essentially 12 days a year to fix Cork streetlights with a backlog of over 150 is totally unacceptable and insulting.” 

He called on the ESB to engage with Cork City Council on the matter and put in place a dedicated team to deal with the backlog in Cork city.