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WINTER IS HERE.
So it’s time to get ready for a cold spell, which this year, means replenishing the State’s salt supply to try to keep our buses on the roads and trains moving.
Earlier this year, the Beast from the East and Storm Emma grounded Ireland transport infrastructure to a halt and people were advised to stay at home as much as possible.
Over the course of the 2017/18 winter, 200,000 tonnes of salt were used on Irish roads.
Today the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross said that he’d secured €700,000 in additional funding for an extra 58,000 tonnes of salt.
Ross said that he was “very concerned about safety on our roads in hazardous conditions”.
Studies show that the use of road salt reduces collisions by up to 85% during a winter event.
He said that last year’s salt reserves were “seriously depleted” by Storm Emma, and that more were needed to prepare for future storms.
In 2015, 96,000 tonnes of salt was used during the cold spells, while during the harsh 2010 winter 130,000 tonnes was used. That same year, havoc descended on the public when salt supplies ran low.
Winter Ready
The government’s annual Be Winter Ready scheme was announced today. Among the measures included as part of the cross-Department scheme are:
The big focus every year is on how our health services are affected by the cold weather season. An additional €10 million has been allocated by the Department of Health to the HSE to prepare for winter.
Detailed plans from the HSE are expected in mid-November on how the additional money is to be spent in addition to operational plans for each hospital group and primary and social care services to manage winter pressures.
This funding should focus on initiatives to enable the hospital system to de-escalate before Christmas.
Today, the Taoiseach prompted criticism when he suggested that consultants should not take holidays in the first week of the year, particularly those who work in emergency departments, and that nurses should not take leave in the first two weeks of January.
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Just make sure we have enough bread during the next snow storm !
That salt will dry up all the water we need for next summer!!
The world is not all about the homeless if I can’t get to work then my taxes won’t help the homeless the world can’t stop just because of the homeless
yay, more rusty cars on the road!
Why do the trains need salt?
@Pixie McMullen: They can be bland!
@Dave Daniels: to assist the train slow down or stop in times of low adhesion. Trains don’t have threaded tyres in contact with tarmac so it’s takes a train longer to stop.
@Dave Daniels: hahah thanks for the laugh
@Pixie McMullen: To protect them from evil spirits lol.
@Tom Harpur Photography: that is why they have sand dispensers on board. They dont need salt.
@Pixie McMullen: to go with the pepper
Why is it northern lorries that spreads the salt?
@johnbunton: Because they are all salty up there…
@johnbunton: NI has the biggest salt mine in the U.k or Ireland, it supplies Ireland and the whole of the UK
I live in Torrevieja , we send you our salt
And how much are they spending to protect the homeless during the extreme weather?
@Gordon Walsh: yawn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_minimum
2019 will be a solar minimum year, so a chance of more easterlies bringing with it colder weather thanks to Sudden Stratospheric Warming’s in union with the El Nino effect? So it might be bad???
@TamuMassif2019:
have your say