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SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 14, 2026

MOTION NO. 7

MOTION: Councillor L. O'Toole

That the Chief Executive reviews the technology currently used to detect and report faulty public streetlights and in line with the Council's ambition to be a more digital Council examines introducing a more streamlined system incorporating automatic fault detection and simple location-based reporting for residents.

REPORT:

SDCC currently has a location-based fault management system called Deadsure. This system records and tracks faulty public lighting and retains a history of works carried out.  This system is currently used across the country successfully by other local authorities.

The recording of faults is primarily carried out on a manual inspection system provided by our contractor, which ensures that every public light is inspected on a fortnightly basis. This is supplemented by a direct fault reporting phone line available to all residents and elected members. The current approach has the advantage of being able to report on the overall condition of the public lighting column, not just the outage status.

Regarding automatic fault detection, SDCC currently operates an automated control and monitoring system for lighting installations at some locations in the county such as The Dodder Valley. SDCC are monitoring the automated control and monitoring system marketplace. Currently, there is a lack of compatibility between some luminaire manufacturers and control and management suppliers.  However, SDCC have future proofed their fittings by specifying that all luminaires be control and management system compliant.  This enables a potential future roll out of a control and management system if the operational conditions were deemed suitable and yielded an overall cost/benefit to the day-to-day management of our network. As such, as proposed in the motion, the review of available technology for public lighting is ongoing.