Work to improve the state of Galway city's roundabouts will be completed over the next few weeks according to the Galway City Council.
The news revealed by director of services Thomas Connell, comes after a private contractor accepted the tender to clean up roundabouts around the city which have become overgrown with vegetation.
Mr Connell said; "It is regrettable that we are in this situation but [the grass cutting] will happen over the next few weeks. The contracts tenders are based on acceptable service to the city council. These contracts can be extended so we will not find ourselves in this situation again."
The state of roundabouts has been a major source of angst of councillors who were all in agreement at Monday's council meeting that the state of the city's roundabouts were a disgrace and projected an embarrassing image of the city.
The current state of Galway city's roundabouts has been blasted by a number of councillors at Monday's council meeting.
Councillors were in agreement that the roundabouts were unkempt and projected an embarrassing image of the city.
Cllr Padraig Conneely said; "The roundabouts are an absolute disgrace. They are in a horrendous state making the city unwelcoming and unfriendly to visitors. The roundabouts are dull and dilapidated. It is very disappointing especially when you visit other provincial towns and their roundabouts are lovely and welcoming."
Fianna Fail councillor Ollie Crowe described the handling of the roundabouts as "a shambles". He said, "The Browne roundabout is a disgrace. The Bohermore roundabout seems to be forgotten about. We were given a commitment six months ago by the city manager that this would be sorted out. It is an absolute shambles."
Cllr Frank Fahy said that the roundabouts were a disgrace and questioned the reasoning behind why the tendering of contracts was only taking place now and not in January and February.
Cllr Terry O'Flaherty said Galway's roundabouts were the worst in the country with Cllr Declan McDonnell saying a JCB was needed instead of grass cutters for certain roundabouts.
Chief executive Brendan McGrath said although he agreed that the state of the roundabouts where not up to the required standard, he felt it was wrong to describe Galway City as a shambles.
"Grass cutting has started ahead of schedule. Extra resources have been put into equipment and the results that are showing. Some equipment that was being used was dated as far back as 2002 and we will continue to invest in human resources and equipment."
