Tipperary County Council recently announced changes to the policy around lights in public areas, with lights now being allowed to be installed along roads where the speed limit is 60 km per hour.
There will also now be an allocation for each Municipal District in the county to go towards installing new lights.
However, while welcoming the scheme Councillor Jim Ryan is not sure it goes far enough.
“I’m glad, first of all that we have carried out a review of the policy, the previous policy was outdated, it wasn’t working and we’ve now gone to a stage where they will consider public lighting in areas within the 60 kilometre speed limit zones, but there are many schools and sporting facilities and community halls in rural areas that still don’t come under this policy.
“I live on a road here myself in Thurles where we have a local GAA pitch, we have numerous businesses, we have an equestrian centre and we’ve no footpath or no public lighting out that way.”
Councillor Ryan says areas where there is a school, sports pitch or community hall should automatically be included on public lighting schemes.
“Well, there should be definitely, and it shouldn’t even be a special arrangement, it should happen automatically. I’ve come across numerous complaints from people who use these sporting facilities, these community halls, these churches, buildings, whatever it is, factories, and people are walking to these facilities in the pitch dark, young children and adults, and it’s not good enough.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen. I think no special provisions should be put in, it should happen automatically. But unfortunately, unless it’s specifically stated in the policy, that won’t happen and that’s where I feel the policy is flawed.”
