PEOPLE attending Clonakilty’s grotto have been standing in the darkness for the past year due to no lighting being in place, a meeting heard earlier this month.
Cork County Council officials told councillors at a meeting of the West Cork Municipal District that a new electrical sub board needs to be installed on the pillar serving the lights within the grotto in Clonakilty to resolve the issue.
Cllr Daniel Sexton (Ind Ire) had called on the Council to reinstate the lighting at the grotto on Convent Road on the Cork side of the town, as he said he has been contacted by numerous people about the lack of lighting at night time.
‘This is important for a lot of people and the grotto has been in darkness for nearly a year. The Council have done an excellent job there, but as soon as darkness falls you can’t see anything,’ said Cllr Sexton.
His colleague, Cllr Danny Collins seconded the motion saying, ‘it’s a lovely spot, and the lighting urgently needs to be fixed.’
Director of services Padraig Barrett said the Council’s technical team is working with their public lighting contractor to restore the floodlight.
‘Following a recent inspection, it was noted that a new electrical sub board is required to be installed in the pillar, which is serving the lights within the grotto,’ he said.
‘Our team is currently arranging for this electrical system to be upgraded by a local contractor and once this has been completed, our public lighting contractor will inspect it prior to re-establishing the connection to power the lights.’
Since that meeting, Cork County Council has fitted two solar lights at the grotto which was welcomed by Cllr Sexton.
He said he hopes they can also get the halo on the statue lighting again, as well as the big light facing the grotto.
