Esmonde Road in Enniscorthy.
Armed forces may be required to ensure a pothole in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, is filled after council crews were subjected to “aggression, bordering on violence”.
The pothole, which is situated on Esmonde Road, Enniscorthy, and is currently “a metre long and a metre wide”, has been growing exponentially since Storm Chandra caused mass flooding in the area.
However, despite Wexford County Council’s (WCC) best efforts, it remains unfilled.
At the March meeting of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD), Councillor Jackser Owens asked why the road had not yet been repaired and warned that a “serious accident” was inevitable unless work was carried out.
Referencing efforts to invite representatives from Blacktown City Council to the recent St Patrick’s Day parade, Cathaoirleach Barbara Anne Murphy said the pothole could be utilised in a number of ways.
“If it gets any deeper we could use it as a portal for our Australian visitors”, she said wryly.
“It’s being used for fishing at the moment,” added Cllr Owens.
Senior engineer Neil Dempsey said efforts had been made to fix Esmonde Road.
“I’ve had our own staff and contractors up there working in extremely volatile conditions, but we had to remove them due to health and safety concerns,” he said. “It got very aggressive, bordering on violence. But it remains on our list.”
Taking a hardline stance, Cllr Pat Kehoe suggested hiring additional muscle to ensure the work got done.
“It needs to be expedited even if it’s the first pothole in Ireland that needs security to get it filled,” he said. “We can’t allow anyone to stop our crews from doing their work. Whether it needs the army or the civil defence to come down and support us, we will get them, fill the pothole, and that’ll be the end of it.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.