His week’s severe weather left residents across Fermanagh trapped in their homes, with growing calls for gritting routes to be extended to protect local lives.
Icy roads resulted in extremely hazardous travelling conditions this week, with some routes including Moybrone, Letterbreen, and Tiravally, left impassable.
Local services were also disrupted, with the Western Trust warning of delays to homecare, day centres, and essential medical visits, leaving communities isolated and struggling to access vital support safely.
Bridget Fitzpatrick, who lives in the Knocks, called on the Department for Infrastructure to extend its gritting routes, describing the situation as ‘a matter of life and death.’
“These winter hazards happen every year with little effective planning,” said the 64-year-old.
“Just yesterday morning there were car pile-ups on the road, with people simply trying to get home but unable to make it up the hill because their cars were sliding everywhere.”
Ms Fitzpatrick said she had contacted the Roads Service several times, with no solution offered.
“People still have no choice but to travel, whether it’s to collect their children or help family members, and that puts everyone at risk,” she said.
A DfI spokesperson said, “The Department delivers a winter service programme to reduce the effects of adverse weather.
“We deploy around 300 staff and 130 gritters to salt main roads, covering 28 per’ cent of the road network and benefiting around 80 per’ cent of users.
“Roads on the scheduled network have been salted multiple times recently, and additional salting will continue.
“Despite this, we cannot guarantee ice-free roads, and drivers are advised to slow down and take care, particularly on untreated routes.”
Local Cllr Sheamus Greene spoke of the frustration felt across rural communities.
“This is about friends, family, neighbours, and elderly people who are once again left isolated because their roads are not salted or gritted.”
“People ask why their road is impassable, why carers can’t get through, why school buses are cancelled, why farmers can’t safely reach livestock. And the truth is, I have no control over it.” he said.
“This isn’t just about convenience – it’s about safety, dignity, and fairness. A single untreated hill or bend can cut off an entire community.”
The Western Trust released a statement that read, due to the adverse weather conditions, they were experiencing some disruption to planned services, particularly in rural areas of Fermanagh.
Many community day care centres stopped operations, and patients were asked to leave extra time for appointments.
Local hospital campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) secretary Helen Hamill said Fermanagh patients needing emergency general surgery services had no choice but to travel to Derry.
“It is terrifying to think that patients and their families will make the journey to Altnagelvin for surgical emergency treatment every single day despite this atrocious weather,” she said.
“We have had patient families discuss how threatened they felt by frost, fog, loss of Wi-Fi when they have an ill person in the car under their care.”
