Fix-it site needs a clear-out

REARVIEW:I'M QUITE enthused about the fixyourstreet.ie website, where people can report problems in their neighbourhoods with the promise that the council will respond within 48 hours.

It’s about time we had some formalised forum for pointing out potholes and broken streetlights instead of just ranting down the phone at hapless councillors.

Such public airing of grievances should go a long way towards shaming councils into addressing the problems raised.

That’s assuming, of course, there is a human being reading the complaints rather than some computer programme merrily filing them away in a dusty old drawer in the back of cyberspace, never to be seen again.

The website is currently a pilot project restricted to areas under the aegis of South Dublin County Council. The Programme for Government pledges to extend it nationwide. The date for the rollout of howthehellarewegoing- topayforallthis.ie has, as yet, not been undisclosed.

Money problems aside, there is another obvious hole in the system.

In Ireland, where recreational whinging is a national obsession, there is a risk of it descending into a mad ranting forum entirely populated by busybodies who think the council is responsible for everything from creating sunshine to cleaning pigeon poop off their SUV.

Already, the website has attracted scores of lunatic submissions. Soon you won’t be able to separate the genuine grievances of concerned citizens from the ravings of the bitter old witch in number 23 with cats in her hair and murder in her eyes who thinks Mossad is spying on her from her neighbour’s bins.

There needs to be a clear set of guidelines outlining what is and isn’t a council matter. Posts which aren’t relevant should be ruthlessly deleted from the website. Otherwise, they’ll merely clog up the system and everyone will go back to thinking they’re just shouting into the void.