Salt bin scheme is frozen over Galway Council resource shortfall
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Galway City Council does not have the resources required to fill community salt bunkers during severe weather events.
The issue arose at a recent meeting of the West Ward Area Committee when Cllr Alan Curran (Soc Dem) questioned what had happened to previous discussions about providing public salt bins across the city.
Cllr Curran said the conversation appeared to have "disappeared" from the agenda despite repeated calls in recent years for community salt bins to help residents deal with icy conditions on local roads and footpaths.
Council officials said the local authority receives its salt supplies through national reserves and explained that those stocks could not be used to fill community bunkers.
When pressed on how such a scheme would operate, officials raised concerns about responsibility for maintaining the bins.
"Who will fill them?" officials asked.
The roads office won't fill them. We do not have the resources to fill salt bunkers.
There have been repeated calls from elected representatives for publicly accessible salt bins in residential areas during previous cold-weather periods.
Both councillors and residents have asked for greater access to salt supplies in areas not covered by main gritting routes.
Officials told the meeting that the council does undertake gritting within housing estates during severe weather events,
But they have indicated that a wider community salt bunker programme would require additional resources.
Cllr Curran said he intends to raise the matter again at the council's Operational Strategic Policy Committee.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme