Kildare County Council has no immediate plans to use machine that can fix 700 potholes a month

Kildare County Council has confirmed that it has no immediate plans to purchase a new pothole fixing machine which can fix up to 700 potholes a month.
Louth County Council has become the first local authority in Ireland to procure the machine, which was manufactured by UK-based JCB and can cover up to 250 square metres a day.
The machine works by cutting, leveling and sweeping the road before filling defects with hot asphalt material, which is more long lasting.

Faster repairs
It is designed to operate in congested urban areas and a faster repair time means less disruption as roads will be closed for shorter periods.
The JCB Pothole Pro has been part-funded by the Department of Transport.
Thousands of euro is spent every year on the repair of potholes across municipal districts in Kildare.
During July alone, the Council was carrying out pothole repairs at over a dozen locations such as Rathangan, Monasteverin, Athgarvan Caragh and Dunlavin. However there are no immediate plans by the local authority to purchase and operate the machinery.

‘Not being considered’
A spokesperson for the Council told the Leader: “ This is not something that is being considered by Kildare County Council at this time.”
The machine has been in operation in the UK for a year with Stoke-on-Trent city council being the first to invest in the Pothole Pro machine.
In just four months it repaired 10,000 square metres of pothole-riddled road surface which is the equivalent in size to eight Olympic swimming pools and which would normally take three years to complete.
In addition to providing a more efficient solution, the automated nature of the machine reduces safety risks to operators often posed by manual power tools.
The UK digger manufacturer said the Pothole Pro can eradicate a typical pothole in just eight minutes. The vehicle also has a top speed of 25km per hour.
JCB claims the machine halves the cost of pothole fixing methods currently employed by councils and other agencies.