Joe O'Reilly TD.

€8.5M for county's regional roads

The county is to get almost €8.5M in regional and local road money for 2016, the government has announced.
Yesterday (Tuesday), January 26, Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys and Fine Gael TD Joe O’Reilly both welcomed over €15.6M for roads in Cavan and Monaghan, which is in addition to the €13M separately announced in December for primary and secondary routes.
The €8.45M for Cavan and €7.16M for improvement and maintenance does not include money for flood damages.
“A number of local roads have been damaged in the recent floods, and I understand that Minister [Paschal] Donohoe will make an announcement shortly in relation to additional road funding for flood repairs,” said Minister Humphreys.
Deputy O’Reilly commented: “The funding package will allow approximately 2,000 kilometres of regional and local roads to be maintained nationally and close to 2,000 kilometres strengthened this year. 
It is thanks to our recovering economy that we can make these kinds of investments in our road network, which is a hugely important. It is good for tourism, increases efficiencies for businesses and benefits the local people who use the roads on a daily basis.”
Minister Humphreys added: “Fine Gael has a long term plan to keep the economy going. Continued economic growth will provide us with more money to invest in vital infrastructure, such as the local and regional road network.”

Local projects
Bridges earmarked for rehabilitation in the county are Sruhanagh (€25K), Corcashel (€30K), Cormeen (€31K), Drumgor (€43K), Castlepoles (€18.5K), Knocknashammer (€21.5K), Killeeter (€17K) and Grousehall (€32K). Roads for listed for repair are at Castletara Cross (€50K), Crossdoney at Ricehill (€75K), Rathkenny Bends (€50K) and Cabra Central School, Kingscourt, (€20K).
At a recent council meeting the bill for the recent flooding was estimated to begin at €2M. When contacted for comment the council said it had not yet examined the figures and could not yet comment.