A Co Armagh man with an eye for detail and a bone to pick with the Department for Infrastructure argues that pothole reports are “going missing”.
The man contacted Armagh I after noticing for a period of months that his reports of road defects were disappearing from the NI Direct website.
NI Direct’s website boasts a feature where users can view a searchable map of their area and see all previous reports of defects and descriptions of those defects, which are then passed on to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) for assessment.
He said he first noticed it at the end of last year but at that time had not made a note of the reference numbers associated with his reports. So, to be sure of his suspicions, he made new reports and noted those references.
Sure enough, he claims around six of the reports he made in 2026 have been “removed” from the map and says the potholes he reported have not been marked or repaired.
Indeed, this resident is not the only person noticing issues.
At a full meeting of ABC Council on January 26, Alliance Councillor Peter Lavery raised his own concerns.
“I suppose members will be familiar with the DfI’s online reporting service,” said Cllr Lavery. “We’re frequently told by DfI that it is the best and preferred and potentially now the only way you can get in contact to raise issues on a wide variety of matters for DfI.
“Not just as an elected representative but many, many residents of the public are proactive in getting issues reported. Unfortunately, I noticed a concerning issue just after Christmas and that on January 6, a strong majority of cases that I was dealing with with DfI had an update placed on their notice on the portal saying that a “defects superseded by new enquiries” and that includes a number of enquiries that I put on relatively recently.”
Clearly dismayed, the councillor explained his cause for alarm, adding: “I think that it is appalling to see that DfI are completely wiping out potentially hundreds of – I think actually potentially thousands – if this issue is replicated across Northern Ireland. Issues many of which maybe concern health and safety matters either reported by myself or members of the public, as I have said.
“DfI do get a lot of work because unfortunately whether it’s roads or footpaths that are in such poor condition. But to simply wipe them away or wipe the slate clean and saying they will just deal with them on the next time they are inspected – which could be in a year – isn’t good enough and each one of those issues could be serious in nature!
“I don’t find it acceptable and I’m sure you don’t find it acceptable either and I’m sure many residents who do their moral public service to report issues don’t find it acceptable either.”
The councillor proposed to write to the Infrastructure Minister, Liz Kimmins, and the Acting Divisional Manager, Cindy Noble, to request answers as to why this “batch update” was done and to see if it could indeed be undone.
He added: “It’s just not acceptable that because you’re Department is so poorly performing you just move on from old issues because there’s that many new issues coming in. Every issue is an important issue.”
Lord Mayor Stephen Moutray agreed that it was an “important issue” and advised the councillor his points had been well made.
Seconding the proposal, Alderman Paul Berry, added his own thoughts: “There’s something seriously wrong and I’d really love someone to come in front of me and tell me, as a councillor, when we report these defects, how are they dealt with?
“We hear from Cllr Lavery, here, in relation to the portal… but between the portal and emails, when you think you’re getting nowhere, are they really being picked up at all?
“I would like to hear from the acting Divisional Manager as to what’s the process as soon as councillors will send these defects through because the general public in some cases think that we are not reporting them at all.
“When you hear of this tonight and you hear of faults and errors it is a serious issue, not just locally but for the Minister.
“It’s time they acted because the roads have never been as bad but especially if we find that the system, there just dropping these particular defects off.”
The Department for Infrastructure were contacted for comment but at the time of publication had not issued a response.
