FIANNA Fáil TD Willie O’Dea has called on the Council to take immediate action to fix the poor quality street lighting in many parts of the city before someone is seriously injured.
Following many requests from local residents, Deputy O’Dea told the Limerick Post that he has made representations to the Council to have the poor quality of the street lighting in places like Kileely dealt with.
“My understanding is that the Council have engaged the services of a company to replace street lighting on a phased basis and that this company is putting in lighting that offers only the bare minimum in terms of brightness.
“We are spending countless amounts of taxpayers money to make the situation worse. Where is the sense in that?” he asked.
“There is the potential for serious accidents to occur unless something is done urgently about the poor lighting. People don’t feel as secure in their homes either and fear that criminals will be very happy to operate under the cover of darkness. Are the Council going to let this situation prevail for the sake of increasing the brightness of the bulbs?”
According to Deputy O’Dea, the residents of Kileely and other parts of Limerick affected by sub quality street lighting are paying their property tax which is supposed to go towards delivering services like basic street lighting.
“How can the Council justify taking property tax off these people and then not provide them with even the most basic of services? I am calling on the Council to review the arrangement they have with this firm and insist that appropriate street lighting is installed throughout Limerick.”
In response, the Council explained that the national Public lighting Energy Efficiency Project (PLEEP), delivered through Cork County Council as the lead authority for the South West Region, is currently progressing through Limerick City.
“This project includes for public lighting upgrades including the replacement of existing public lighting lanterns with new LED type lanterns that are more energy efficient.
“Following receipt of  representations regarding public lighting levels at Kileely and other locations within Limerick City following lantern upgrades as part of the PLEEP project, Limerick City and County Council have issued a request to the PLEEP management team in Cork County Council to undertake a review of the upgrade works to ensure the public lighting upgrades comply with their public lighting designs for each location,” a spokesperson told the Limerick Post.
The Council is currently awaiting the outcome of this review.