‘No brainer’ as Cllr pushes for Pothole repair machine purchase

A Donegal Municipal District (MD) Councillor has described as a “no brainer” the concept of purchasing a pothole repair machine sprayer for the county.

Cllr Noel Jordan was addressing councillors at the March monthly meeting of the MD at the Donegal Public Services Centre through a motion.   

He said that due to the recent budget it would be a timely purchase for secondary roads in the Donegal area and elsewhere in the county.

“I am asking this MD to call on the DCC and the county machinery yard to purchase a High Velocity pothole sprayer in light of the condition of a lot of secondary roads,” he said. 

Cllr Jordan suggested the high velocity pothole spray, which was “highly sophisticated and possibly a game changer especially as we only get a third of our roads fixed each year.” 

He said that project had a lot of plus sides going for it, it was a “no brainer” as far as he was concerned and machines, if purchased, had substantial grants available, if you get them at the right time of the year.

He said in addition to this, it would also free up council workers out there on a weekly basis fixing potholes, when they could be utilised elsewhere.

The pothole fixer teams usually consisted of three to four men, but this machinery only needed one person and operated through the use of a robotic arm. 

“I watched footage in Ballyshannon area of a pilot scheme and in my opinion, it is a no brainer for Donegal County Council. 

“We certainly will continue to fight the corner of additional funding for secondary roads to this MD but this could take us through a bad patch,” said Cllr Jordan. 

He added that a typical roads plan lasted for about three years “and then you are back at the same locations again”.

He urged councillors to purchase the machine rather than just rent it out. 

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The motion was seconded by Cllr Niamh Kennedy. 

Area Manager Mark Sweeney told councillors that the council were “very close to getting it out on hire”.

He said that it was an expensive and sophisticated piece of machinery that saw hot tar run through a machine. It would need close examination as to its operation and high maintenance before such a purchase was even considered but DCC were close to hiring it out to help alleviate potholes in the near future. 

He said: "The Roads Department in conjunction with the Machinery Yard are in the process of hiring a velocity patcher with the intention of making this vehicle available to Municipal Districts to carry out pothole repair works.

"Consideration will then be given to the option to purchase this type of vehicle at a later date when all aspects of what is involved in the operation and maintenance issues associated with this type of vehicle are better understood." 

Cllr Jordan affirmed that it had “been used in a lot of counties and reports are very good”.