Footpaths in a Cork town have been described as treacherous, and the people struggling most with them are the elderly and other vulnerable residents. Uneven slabs and potholes turn even a short walk to the shop or the doctor into a risk of a bad fall. For older people, especially those living on their own, a damaged footpath can mean the difference between getting out and staying shut indoors. Wheelchair users and parents pushing buggies run into the same problems on broken kerbs and crumbled surfaces. Complaints of this kind usually end up with the local authority, and residents here have been pressing for the worst stretches to be resurfaced rather than patched. The worry is that nothing will be done until someone is seriously hurt on one of these paths. Keeping pavements in decent repair matters most for those who depend on them every day and have the fewest alternatives.