Dublin City Council

NickDrake

This thread will hopefully open a nice debate.

Dublin City Council failed to manage the two big chills in December,

Untreated roads and footpaths. We witnessed it all. Untreated Dart exits etc. Some main shopping streets left untreated, busy roads left untreatd. General shambles.

But to be fair to then they did treat some roads and footpaths but it was oh so late.

Now the water. Burst pipes all over the place. Water curtailments for the last 3 weeks and now for the next 2 weeks.

What the hell are they at or are they doing their job perfectly and we have no right to complain?

What do people think?

I think they are a shambles.

HellFireClub

NickDrake wrote: »

This thread will hopefully open a nice debate.

Dublin City Council failed to manage the two big chills in December,

Untreated roads and footpaths. We witnessed it all. Untreated Dart exits etc. Some main shopping streets left untreated, busy roads left untreatd. General shambles.

But to be fair to then they did treat some roads and footpaths but it was oh so late.

Now the water. Burst pipes all over the place. Water curtailments for the last 3 weeks and now for the next 2 weeks.

What the hell are they at or are they doing their job perfectly and we have no right to complain?

What do people think?

I think they are a shambles.

They made a complete and utter balls of gritting the roads, in particular the exits off the M50 which have inclines and caused trucks to lose traction on the exits. However as for shopping centre's, that's private property that the councils have no responsibility to grit, same for the Dart.

They know how to charge when it comes to commercial rates, it's just the typical type of inefficiencies that are to be found within a large inefficient beaurocratic organisation. You will never get a council to do this right, the only way to get it sorted is to privitise/outsource the task...

delta_bravo

NickDrake wrote: »

Now the water. Burst pipes all over the place. Water curtailments for the last 3 weeks and now for the next 2 weeks.

What the hell are they at or are they doing their job perfectly and we have no right to complain?

What do people think?

I think they are a shambles.

The temperature has ranged from -10 to 13 degrees in the space of a few weeks. Very few networks can cope with such great temperature shifts. It was unnatural weather for Ireland.

Also theres very little they can do when there are morons running their taps 24 hours a day wasting hundreds of thousands of litres.

What I would like to see after this is a re-mapping of the water networks in the county. Over time, pipes have been moved for various works and we end up in a situation where the councils dont know where leaks are which exacerbates the whole thing. This is one thing the Dept of Environment needs to ensure councils have proper knowledge of the water infrastructure.

Our water supply hasn't changed much since the 19th century, probably something we should've looked at during the Celtic Tiger days but we will have to make do with what we have now.

There are definitely areas to sort out but overall its freak weather and not something we should be prepared for anyway so they have done well in reducing consumption but they need to sort out the network with whatever money they have.

Gavin "shels"

Could be wrong OP but the DART exits should have been treated by IE afaik, just like the Luas platforms where done by Luas, etc...

But it's a joke, England managed to cope fairly well no major pipe bursts that stopped water, etc... I don't mind the water going off but they should do it at decent times, like turning it off at 4pm on New Years Day ffs and not turning it back on till around 2pm today (I had to have a poxy cold 2 minute shower before I went to work at 11am).

wyndham

Gavin shels wrote: »

Could be wrong OP but the DART exits should have been treated by IE afaik, just like the Luas platforms where done by Luas, etc...

But it's a joke, England managed to cope fairly well no major pipe bursts that stopped water, etc... I don't mind the water going off but they should do it at decent times, like turning it off at 4pm on New Years Day ffs and not turning it back on till around 2pm today (I had to have a poxy cold 2 minute shower before I went to work at 11am).

If you had a cold 2 minute shower you evidently had water?

NickDrake

well the footpaths near dart stations were not gritted and that is the councils responsibility. There are busy footpaths.

Graffton street was left ungritted and snow not clear for two days.

Cork and Galway had all their busy areas gritted. Dublin looked a shambles compared to them.

Regarding the water. Some of the OPs trying to protect the council? They are making a shamles of trying to find the leaks. All majot cities in Europe can isolate the leaks and shut off the area. example 100m area. In Dublin a whole system is turned off.

We have had this weather for the second winter in a row and you are saying we should not be prepared??

Frank Bullitt

Not sure what their plan was but it wasnt a good one anyway, I was a victim of the icy paths, ended up hammering my hip with a nasty fall one night. Only for the heavy rain last week we probably would have had another patch of that.

With regards to water, its a different situation, if anything i hope that changes are made for these types of conditions in the future,thats 2 years on the go that we have had issues with it so it needs to be sorted. Granted my water situation has improved with better pressure when it does come back so the tank fills again, but still, others are not so lucky.

Overall their help has been very poor.

Gavin "shels"

wyndham wrote: »

If you had a cold 2 minute shower you evidently had water?

Water that was stored in a tank, yes, water coming from the mains to refill the tank, no!

athtrasna

There's a question of funding...so late in the year I heard anecdotally that DCC had no money left for grit. Who's to blame for that is hard to tell, is it the individual councillors or the civil servants who actually run the council.

I saw the army out clearing the paths around Connolly and the hospitals in the run up to Christmas, they seemed to be making good progress. It did occur to me during both snow spells that much clearing could be done with a sweeping brush and some elbow grease, especially when it starts to thaw a little...this was where council manpower could have made a big difference without a large expense.

Regarding water, it's not just DCC, all the Dublin councils had the same problem. South Dublin CC turned the water off at 10pm on NYE which came as a total shock in the house I was visiting because of all the publicity of a NYE reprieve.

Our water system in the entire country is a shambles..ancient piping in many places and as someone has already mentioned, no map of new water routes or re-routes.

I think the council workers who effectively gave up their Christmases to work on the roads and water pipes should be applauded. But someone somewhere is responsible for not having contingency plans in place, a supply of grit, pipes not replaced...and I would like to know who!

GLaDOS

I don't think I saw any gritting of the path at all, apart form people gritting outside their own property

RoastBeefDinner

delta_bravo wrote: »

The temperature has ranged from -10 to 13 degrees in the space of a few weeks. Very few networks can cope with such great temperature shifts. It was unnatural weather for Ireland.

The air temp had those fluctuations but the ground temps did not. This business of cutting off water supplies in the capital is a complete and utter farce and something you would expect from a third world country.
Councils all of them are run by politicians and we all know where the current politicians have landed us..in deep shi*!

sambuka41

The roads around Rathmines were a joke with the snow, the Rathgar road was only gritted at 4pm one of the days,one of the busiest roads from south into the city and no grit. Also the road going into St Luke's was really, really bad for most of the time the snow was around. :mad:

athtrasna

RoastBeefDinner wrote: »

Councils all of them are run by politicians and we all know where the current politicians have landed us..in deep shi*!

Not strictly true...it's the City Manager who is responsible for day to day running of the city. There's usually only one full council meeting per month.

jdivision

Council concentrated on hiring staff rather than improving services during the boom - now it's got no money. Too many people on the planning and development side, not enough to do basic jobs.

snappieT

HellFireClub wrote: »

n particular the exits off the M50 which have inclines and caused trucks to lose traction on the exits.

None of which are part of Dublin City Council territory.

sleeplessoul

A ceramic pipe system is the reason why pipes crack, charge the public to use water and use the money from that to upgrade the system, most countries have to pay to use the water to keep up maintenace for the system so they don't have cracked pipes.

Wake up Ireland and get with the times, you're not a third world country.

mikemac

athtrasna wrote: »

There's a question of funding...so late in the year I heard anecdotally that DCC had no money left for grit. Who's to blame for that is hard to tell, is it the individual councillors or the civil servants who actually run the council.

The NRA provided the grit, it was bought centrally which seems to me to be a good idea.

It's more likely that DCC had no money to pay staff overtime to get them at 4am or whatever time they start

ciaran_h

Wart situation is a farce. Little investment in 50 odd years . There are cast iron pipes that crack and leak in freeze thaw situations, they should have a maintenance/replacement regime in place replacing pipes at around per cent per annul as is standard elsewhere but no not good ole ireland

not yet

NickDrake wrote: »

This thread will hopefully open a nice debate.

Dublin City Council failed to manage the two big chills in December,

Untreated roads and footpaths. We witnessed it all. Untreated Dart exits etc. Some main shopping streets left untreated, busy roads left untreatd. General shambles.

But to be fair to then they did treat some roads and footpaths but it was oh so late.

Now the water. Burst pipes all over the place. Water curtailments for the last 3 weeks and now for the next 2 weeks.

What the hell are they at or are they doing their job perfectly and we have no right to complain?

What do people think?

I think they are a shambles.

Do you now....
Well consider this, all purchasing,sorcing and delivery of salt/grit/sand is now being COMPLETELY controlled by the NRA, now if DCC need any of the above they can only ask NRA. With regards to bust pipes how in gods name can you expect DCC to fix a pipe before it bursts.

ciaran_h

not yet wrote: »

Do you now....
Well consider this, all purchasing,sorcing and delivery of salt/grit/sand is now being COMPLETELY controlled by the NRA, now if DCC need any of the above they can only ask NRA. With regards to bust pipes how in gods name can you expect DCC to fix a pipe before it bursts.

It's call having a watermain rehabilitation strategy....ie you replace them when they're beyond their shelf life

JuliusCaesar

ciaran_h wrote: »

It's call having a watermain rehabilitation strategy....ie you replace them when they're beyond their shelf life

Yes, well, when domestic rates were abolished, councils lost most of their income. Income now comes mostly from central govt. Two seperate budgets - one for ongoing expenditure, one for capital expenditure. Same as the HSE. So the only way they can manage to keep within the budget is NOT to pay for maintenance as it really eats into the budgets and it's better budget-wise to wait till everything collapses and you get a capital grant. Doh! But that's goverment! NOT the way anyone would run a household.

And as for directly-elected mayor..........don't get me started!*



*Actually I'm quite willing to rant on endlessly.

NickDrake

Water still being shut off between 1900 and 0700 for the 4th week in a row.

What a shambles of an organisation.

How are businesses coping? i.e pubs, restaurants?

Lawrence1895

It must be after 7pm already, I was just trying to have a shower, no water at all...I guess, I have to buy some bottles of water :mad:

I wouldn't mind to pay for water charges, I'm used to that from Germany anyway, but the money should be put into maintenance of the water pipes indeed.

And about those icy and dangerous roads...Skelly's Lane and Beaumont Road were a disaster, considering, there is Beaumont Hospital nearby :mad:

Not to mention some footpaths, they were more like an ice rink :eek:

So just some ideas from Germany to think about...over there it is compulsory to keep your footpath clear (otherwise you might have some trouble with your local city council) and you must have winter tyres on your car.

btw...a taxi driver recently told me, that there are a mere two snowploughs for the whole lot of Dublin, one of them is broken...strange, but true

RMD

My biggest problem with them during this year was the fact as soon as it snowed they didn't seem to have people when they should have; before most of it had the chance to freeze over. I remember seeing some guys going around on quads with snow ploughs on the front, well why weren't these lads out clearing enough snow for there to be a decent footpath present from the start? Wouldn't be surprised about that at all Lars but then why didn't they seek an alternative? I doubt there was any contruction going on in that weather for safety reasons, why couldn't they hire a couple of JCBS / ploughs to help clear roadways.

I'm not blaming the average DCC worker, I'm blaming the once again unprepared management who seem to have no idea what they're doing.

Dyr

I know one OAP who has been trying to get the corporation out to fix his boiler for months on end, it sounds like the damn thing will explode and the only way he can stop the noise is to have his kitchen taps running constantly, so thanks to the corpo his taps are on almost 24 hours a day and yet they still don't condeir it important enough to fix :rolleyes:

NickDrake

Water will still be shut off untill Sunday.

That is now one month with no water between 19.00 and 07.00.

The Dublin CC have a lot to answer. This is third world stuff.

They are an absolute disgrace and a shambles of an organisation.

If the water levels have improved then why will it still be shut off untill Sunday?

Dear god.

Gumbo

Bambi wrote: »

I know one OAP who has been trying to get the corporation out to fix his boiler for months on end, it sounds like the damn thing will explode and the only way he can stop the noise is to have his kitchen taps running constantly, so thanks to the corpo his taps are on almost 24 hours a day and yet they still don't condeir it important enough to fix :rolleyes:

could he not call a plumber?

Dyr

kceire wrote: »

could he not call a plumber?

If he had the money to spend it on plumbers and the corporation were'nt his landlord then that would be an idea. Any other suggestions?

Gumbo

Bambi wrote: »

If he had the money to spend it on plumbers and the corporation were'nt his landlord then that would be an idea. Any other suggestions?

i was just curious?
if my boiler breaks down i cant call the council to fix it, i have to get a plumber myself. but you didnt say he was living in a council house, so that changes everything.

have you rang the plumbing inspector directly instead of talking to somebody in admin?

have you applied over 8 weeks ago or under?

When reporting the problem, please tell us the following information:
Your name
Address.
Contact phone number
A description of the problem.
We will then arrange a date and time for it to be fixed, as follows:

Routine repairs: Fixed within 8 weeks, e.g. replacing a toilet.
Urgent repairs: Fixed within 5 days, e.g. heating.
Emergency repairs: Fixed immediately, e.g. water leak, faulty sockets.