The busy street left in the dark during the run-up to Christmas

BUSINESS owners on a busy Co Tyrone street have criticised delays in repairing a street-lighting fault that has left the area in darkness for more than two weeks.

The issue at Castle Street in Strabane, first reported on November 29 by Majella McDermott, owner of Caffe Milano, has yet to be resolved, despite the serious safety and economic concerns it has caused.

Ms McDermott highlighted the risks to her staff, all of whom are female, who often begin their workday as early as 5.30am.

She commented: “All my staff are female with a number of them in the shop from 5.30am-6am each morning preparing the day’s food.

“Being on the street at that time of the morning with no lighting is quite concerning for my staff and myself.

“We have had incidents in the café recently with one man having to be removed from the shop by police for intimidating the staff.

“When I open up on dark mornings I would have to leave my car lights on to make sure I get in safely. On the mornings I am not opening, I would still be up and watching the cameras form home to make sure the staff get in safely.”

She added: “Business owners in Strabane are trying their best to create a nice atmosphere and make their businesses attractive to visit but having the street shrouded in darkness on winter nights isn’t helping.”

Other business owners, including Anoop Guram of Tusk, shared their frustrations about the impact on the street’s appearance.

Mr Guram said: “It doesn’t look nice at all, especially when you’re trying to attract people into town, but luckily it hasn’t affected my business. I have checked today (Tuesday) and around 50 per-cent of the street lights in town don’t seem to be working.”

When the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) were contacted about the problem this week, a spokesperson said: “The Department was made of aware of fault reports of individual lights out on 29/11/24.

“DfI’s contractor attended and advised there was a problem with the electricity supply to these lights on December 5. Further investigation identified an underground cable fault which has been programmed for repair on Thursday December 19.”

Acting on behalf of traders, Strabane independent councillor, Paul Gallagher claims he was told by DfI that the outage may not be resolved until January.

“I am glad that DfI say they will sort this today (Thursday) and I hope it happens,” he said.

“The lights need to be fixed sooner rather than later to ensure that Strabane is no longer left in the dark.”