The Government has confirmed that they have spent around €2m on salt supplies to keep the nations roads open during the expected cold snaps this winter.
The news comes as the Government’s specialized Task Force on Emergency Planning launched its annual ‘Be Winter Ready’ campaign today. The State agencies and counties transport providers claim that they are more prepared than ever before to deal with severe weather events.
A spokesman the National Roads Authority Sean O’Neil has welcomed the news saying there is an ample supply of road salt in stock. He said: “From a national perspective, we have 211,000 tonnes plus and additional 27 with our PPP – so you’re looking at about 238,000 total,” he said.
“The spend to date has been €1.8m. O’Neil went onto say: “During the worst years that we experienced we went through about 150,000 tonnes – so we’re well stocked.”