The people of Durrow in Co Laois have taken to the streets to protest at what they claim is a lack of interest by Laois County Council in their town.
Members of the local community council say they are tired of writing letters to the county council complaining about pot holes, poor lighting and other inadequate services in the town, and getting no response.
"We were at the end of our tether. I simply refused to write any more letters to the county council. They were just filed away and I felt it was a waste of time and money in the end," said Ms Anne Vaugh, secretary of the community council.
Durrow has a population of approximately 2,000 people and is located close to the Kilkenny border on the main Dublin to Cork road. "We often feel the county council think we are living in Co Kilkenny. Laois stops at Abbeyleix as far as the council are concerned," Ms Vaugh said.
Footpaths in Durrow were so uneven they were a liability and even new lighting installed in one area was so poor "you couldn't see your hand".
She said it was so dark in the town square people were afraid to use the public phone box at night. "Down the road in Abbeyleix you would be absolutely blinded by the lights," she said.
The town also needed traffic-calming measures to slow through traffic. There were calming measures in nearby Abbeyleix and Cullohill but again none in Durrow. "The speed of traffic is just ridiculous. It's a miracle that nobody has been knocked down."
She pledged the community council would be a thorn in the council's side until some progress was made.
She added that locals hadn't ruled out blocking traffic on the main Dublin/Cork road on a busy Friday evening to draw attention to their plight.
She said, however, that the council had been busy filling potholes in the town just before this week's protest, which attracted over 150 people.
Mr Oliver Clooney, chairman of the community council, said if the county council wasn't able to provide services to the town, it should step aside.
"They just want us to disintegrate and we are not going to do that. Any improvements in Durrow over the last 10 years have been done by voluntary groups," he said.
"We have no council worker, nobody sweeping the streets and no services whatsoever. We pay car tax and income tax but there is nothing coming back to Durrow."
In a statement, the county council rejected some of the assertions made by local people. It said traffic route lighting and public lighting in Durrow was "of a comparable standard" with other towns and villages in the county.
"Regarding the footpaths in Durrow, we acknowledge that there are sections in need of repair but we are looking at a programme of improvements which will be considered at the roads area meetings due to be held next week."
The council said £150,000 was spent on the reconstruction of two streets in the town between 1997 and 1998. This involved putting ESB cables underground, laying new paving and installing decorative lamps.