5th May 2014
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
An election candidate for Cork County Council has a great surname; Desmond.
She is running in an area where there has been a long serving Councillors with that name!
The new candidate Mary-Rose Desmond belongs to Fianna Fail, where as the outgoing Paul Desmond is a stalwart of Labour, coming from a strong Labour family.
Today we received the first news from Mary-Rose Desmond.
Ms Desmond is proposing that Cork County Council immediately establish a ‘Fix my Pothole’ mobile app and website so dangerous potholes can be reported and dealt with quickly and efficiently.
She commented: “The level of disrepair and deterioration of rural and urban roads across Cork is a constant worry for residents. In order to ensure a swift response to these problems, Fianna Fáil is proposing a ‘Fix my Pothole’ website that will offer drivers a chance to highlight damaged roads and report them in a quick and efficient manner.
“I am calling on Cork County Council to develop a new app based on the successful City of Boston Street Bump App that allows people to update information on where pot holes are in their area. The concept of Street Bump is simple and uses technology already built in on smart phones including their global positioning systems (GPS) and notes the location of the car and the size of the pothole.
“This data can then be analysed to identify and address road conditions in Cork. This will be fed into the local authority database, a response sent to the individual and a timeframe for fixing the problem laid out. If I am elected to Cork County Council in May, I will make it a priority to get the app and website up and running as a matter of urgency.
“Integrating the IT system with the Cork County Council work crews will mean that problems can be identified and fixed quickly, reducing the risk to drivers and their vehicles.
“If resources for the app and and website are earmarked by the General Purpose grant, this will finance the improvement works. This is a practical solution to the chronic problem we have with potholes in Cork and the ‘Fix my Pothole’ app should be supported by all Councilors in the county.”