THE Department of Infrastructure is spending £1.5m to street lights maintenance in the hope of fixing 3,500 broken street lights.
In the Assembly, Minister, Chris Hazzard said that additional £500,000 is being spent on top of £1m to keep streets and roads safe.
Mr Hazzard claimed that the 3,500 lights that were out, represented only 2% of all street lights in Northern Ireland.
East Antrim MLA, Roy Beggs challenged the Infrastructure Minister to do more.
“Will the Minister assure me that the maintenance of street lights will be part of his initial budget, guaranteeing that failing lights will be repaired rather than having the department continually seeking emergency funding,” he said.
Mr Hazzard claimed that repairs are being carried out and that the remaining broken lights will be fixed before the end of the year.