Road signs in Laois are ‘an embarrassment’ according to a local County Councillor

A local County Councillor has called the condition of road signs in Laois “an embarrassment,” and called for a major cleanup operation to take place.

Independent Cllr James Kelly urged Laois County Council to restore the County’s road signs as he passed out photographs of the offending signs to fellow councillors, Council staff and the media

“As you can see from the images – which is only a sample from the Western area – this is an embarrassment,” Cllr Kelly said.

“When one is driving around the county observing the various road and welcoming signs, many are illegible due to dirt, grime and mould, and many more are damaged or pointing in the wrong direction.

“We have one chance to make a first impression to tourists but for many visiting Laois its absolutely shocking to see the dirty and badly damaged signs, some of which are blocked by hedges and growth which can lead to road safety issues as motorists struggle to read dirty signs.

“This could threaten our tourism product and also become a health and safety issue.

“In our towns and villages, it is now left to Tidy Towns committees and other voluntary groups to clean the various signage rather than our Local Authority.

“I wish to commend Laois County Council on the new information signs installed on our national and regional roads highlighting the upcoming major events for 2024 – All Ireland Drama Finals, Electric Picnic, National Ploughing Championships, and World Handball Championships – all of which will be of huge benefit to the county.

“While these are temporary wooden signage I would propose that we install more permanent ones that we could change the event information on which would be more appealing to the eye.

“This topic should ideally be discussed at budget time and this Council needs to develop a policy in relation to signage and then fund it.

“In the interm can we provide what ever resources are available to carry out cleaning and repair duties as soon as possible.”

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