COUNCILLORS have called for a shake-up of when different areas will see grass and verge-cutting services from the Department of Infrastructure (DfI).

The issue of verge cutting was again raised at a recent meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, with councillors previously asking DfI if cutting could be commenced earlier in the year. 

In a response, Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd said that a commencement date "is dependent on observed grass growth rates which vary year on year".

Sinn Féin councillor, Thomas O'Reilly, said the response "didn't fill (him) with a lot of hope".

"My understanding is that it (grass cutting) is a contract service that is given out, and they work in a face, so they start somewhere and work towards," Councillor O'Reilly said. 

"In Erne East, we seem to be some of the last cutting to be done at each cycle.

"My understanding is that it takes three weeks or more to do a cycle. The first (area) is getting it done quite promptly, but if you are at the end, it's a month's worth of growth you have encountered."

Ulster Unionist Party councillor, Robert Irvine, said there is a need for a "balance between budgets and personal safety".

"Some of the roads need to be cut earlier because they present a huge problem as regards road safety," said Councillor Irvine. 

"In the confines of the urban area,  I have had several complaints regarding grass around signs of entrances into Enniskillen and Omagh. These are complaints to us as a Council and I have had to inform them that it's no responsibility of ours, it's down to DfI."

Councillor Irvine also hit out at the quality of recent grass cutting at an entry sign to Enniskillen. 

"We have had enough complaints of tourism entries, yet we have another department coming along, making a mess of it, and not rectifying it. 

"That grass was cut three weeks ago, and nothing has been done to come back and sort it."

Sinn Féin Councillor Sheamus Greene referred to an earlier suggestion to use Erne East as a "pilot study", with this area being cut first by DfI. 

"I'm still not giving up on that," Councillor Greene said.

"I suggest that we send it through to (DfI) to see would that be a doable thing to do, as a test case. 

"If it turns out that a three-week earlier cut in Erne East turns out a complete disaster, I am willing to put my hands up and say it's my fault, and that it followed on a suggestion I made. 

"However, I suspect that it will be the opposite. I will be proved right, cutting earlier will be a help."