UPDATE FROM CATHAL RASMUSSEN YOUR LOCAL COUNCILLOR

At last I am delighted to announce that the public lighting in the cathedral car park will be repaired shortly. These lights have been out of action for a long time and it has taken me a number of months to get the issue resolved. In the next week or so they will be repaired and it will make the whole car park and adjoining area a lot safer. They will now be maintained by the local council on an ongoing basis.

At a recent full council meeting a motion was discussed at length about Dog Fouling on the footpaths and roads of Cork. Make no mistake we in Cobh are as bad as any town and village in Ireland when it comes to this disgusting habit of some of our dog owners allowing their dogs to foul.  Despite all the hard work of the tidy town volunteers and council workers as well as some decent dog owners the issue of dog fouling had become a huge issue in the town in general. It s time for action and I am appealing to dog owners who allow their dogs to foul to please clean up and have some consideration for your fellow towns people. A county wide policy is going to be worked on to try and helps resolve this serious issue but people need to take responsibility for their dog’s actions. If you witness dogs being allowed to foul then maybe it’s time for those people to be challenged and reported. A number of different ideas are under discussion at present and I would be interested in hearing people’s views on the problem.

Outside of the dog fouling issue the problem of constant littering is starting to increase again in Cobh. Education and resources are needed to help keep the litter bugs at bay but we all need to join the fight. Somebody must know who is littering and again it’s time to challenge and report anybody seen littering. Huge efforts have been made by a lot of people over the last few years to improve Cobh .If we are not careful there is a huge risk of the litter problem getting out of control. Please speak to your children, family and friends and start discussing what they can do to help and improve the potential problem. The council will play their part in resourcing and cleaning the town in cooperation with the volunteers from the tidy towns but we all need to work together.

No good news on funds for the Fota road again this week when plans and funds for the roads for the county were announced .Again despite all the publicity and campaigning by a lot of people to highlight the need for a new road no progress would appear to have being made. Nevertheless the fight must continue and hopefully we will be successful in time.

Budgets are being prepared for repairs to footpaths so if the footpath in your area is in need of repair please contact me with the details. Again budgets will be small but if your area is not highlighted then it will never have a chance of being repaired.

I can be contacted on 0868878421 or rosemountcobh1@eirocom.net

Cllr Cathal Rasmussen