Donegal County Council has been asked to add more school routes to its winter gritting schedule.
A number of rural schools were forced to close during the recent cold snap due to treacherous road conditions.
Cllr Jack Murray has asked the council to prioritise roads near schools when conducting its next review of the winter gritting schedule.
Cllr Murray said his motion was timely following the recent spell of bad weather.
“Once a school shuts down, as well as impacting on a children’s education, parents are housebound they can’t get to work and there are various implications on the local economy when so many people can’t leave their house that day,” he said.
Cllr Murray acknowledged the work of the winter maintenance staff and said accepted that not all routes can be achieved, such as high mountain roads, but asked the council to try its best to ensure all schools remain open.
Cllr Murray also asked the council to consider contracting private companies to spread enough grit to get buses to schools.
Cathaoirleach Martin Harley commented that using private services may raise issues regarding insurance and unions.
In response to Cllr Murray, Bryan Cannon, Director of Roads and Transportation, said the council appreciates the difficulties that schools, business owners, homeowners, householders, and people that provide home help encounter on gritted roads.
Approximately 1,140km of road divided into 21 separate routes are gritted in Donegal. This equates to approximately 18% of the total length of public road in Donegal.
Mr Cannon said: “ In response to representations from Elected Members at the budget meeting in December Donegal County Council agreed to examine the implications of including routes to all schools on the winter maintenance programme.
“Work has commenced to examine this issue. The review has to take cognisance of a number of factors including the time for each lorry to grit a route, the volume of the gritting equipment, the volume of grit required at the various spread rates, the length of the route, the availability of trained and competent staff to fill the winter maintenance rota, etc. Elected Members will be consulted at MD (municipal district) level and a report will be drafted for consideration.”
