A WEST Cork businessman has offered to lend Cork County Council the use of a purpose-built machine that he believes will solve the pothole problem.

Denis O’Kelly, sales director with ECI JCB Cork, said he has written to council members who believe the JCB Pothole Pro could be the answer to their prayers.

Denis described how persistent rain and freezing temperatures tore great potholes in the surfaces of local, regional and national roads during the month of January.

He maintained: ‘The local authority’s knee jerk reaction to fill the potholes with loose tar was a waste of time. That just resulted in tar splattering the paintwork of cars and the potholes were there again the following morning.’

He added: ‘We will give the council the use of a JCB Pothole Pro, and an operator, absolutely free of charge in any part of the county to show that our method works.’

Denis explained that the purpose-built machine was launched in 2021 and was introduced in Ireland in 2022 with demonstrations including to local authorities.

The pothole in which Cllr. Daniel Sexton was standing in Southern Star issue dated 24th January, has been repaired. Cork County Council spent today repairing potholes around Clonakilty. Picture: Andy Gibson.

He said they made a similar loan offer around that time, but it was not taken up by Cork County Council.

‘The offer still stands,’ said the businessman who has approached a member of the Oireachtas to find out how much the council has spent on temporary repairs and compensation to motorists for damaged wheels, tyres, headlights and steering rack realignments.

As part of the 2022 demonstration, Denis said they also spent a day with council operatives and a full day’s work was completed in two hours.

He said Cork County Council declined to invest in the JCB Pothole Pro, but Louth County Council – which at 1,600km has the smallest road network in the country compared to Cork’s 12,200km which is the largest – purchased a JCB Pothole Pro.

Last week The Southern Star reported how giant potholes are wreaking havoc on roads across West Cork causing motorists to veer onto the wrong side of the road and blowing out tyres.

The day after publication council staff were photographed repairing the stretch of road outside Deasy’s car park in Clonakilty, which Cllr Daniel Sexton had also raised at a council meeting earlier that week.

Aside from the hugely increased productivity it offers, described in layman’s terms how the JCB machine cuts, crops, and cleans the pothole before putting in the tar.

‘It squares the hole and creates a proper foundation so the fill has something to stick to,’ said Denis who also likened it to a filling you’d get from a dentist.

‘What it means is that when the job is done, it is done. There’s no comparison between our system and a few shovels of loose tar,’ he concluded.

A spokesperson for Cork County Council said: ‘The local authority currently has 17 velocity patchers deployed for pothole repairs right throughout Cork County.’

She acknowledged that ‘pothole repair in wet weather and during this period of prolonged rainy days is extremely challenging’.