Council workers praised for dealing with deadly oil spill

Staff of Mayo Co Council have been praised for their work in the past year, especially when it comes to dealing with emergency call-outs.

Members of Ballina Municipal District were loud in their praise of the council staff at the final meeting of the local authority earlier this month. All five councillors in attendance complimented the staff with Fine Gael Cllr John O'Hara referring to an oil spill on the Tubbercurry to Ballina Road on December 7. He praised the council staff for dealing with the matter so quickly and efficiently.

"There was oil on the road all the way from the Mayo-Sligo border to close to Ballina and the roads were bad and, in all fairness, the council staff went out and looked at it," he said. "They did a good job and everyone was happy. It is nice to have someone there when there is something wrong," he added.

Cllr O'Hara said one car went off the road but thankfully there were no injuries.

"Oil is one of the most dangerous things you can put on the road," he noted.

There were six local authority emergency call outs in November in the Ballina Municipal District area. Head of the district, Declan Turnbull, said the figures were a slight reduction on previous months. He said November was busy in terms of motor tax with 694 transactions amounting to over €97,000.