Terse exchanges over laneway improvement funds

A week may be a long time in politics but some elected members were accused of having a short-term memory after calls were made for the reintroduction of a Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) for non-public laneways.

More than 150 private lanes countywide are currently on a waiting list to be fixed with no funding allocated in the current programme.
Just 15 months after Fine Gael were outvoted by Fianna Fáil, with Sinn Féin members abstaining, on a proposal to divert some money for LIS works from the 2015 Road Budget, Cavan County Councillor Sean Smith (FF) proposed a motion to have a “specific allocation” for the scheme going forward.
“Many families are in a difficult place and do not see their road being mended or fixed,” he told last week’s monthly meeting.
Voicing the opinion that he is “convinced” those in government who scrapped the LIS “do not understand the situation” affecting homes in rural Ireland, Cllr Smith urged: “Give these people some dignity. There are hundreds of families living across this county who may not have roads to leave their homes in a few years time.”
Noting too there are many businesses, farmers included, located on so-called non-public roads which contribute significantly to the local economy, he stated: “They pay their taxes and all the rest with it. We are letting them down if we don’t do this.”
Cllr Smith’s motion was supported by fellow party member John Paul Feeley, as well as Sinn Féin’s Paddy McDonald.
The government last year phased out dedicated funding allocations for LIS instead allowing councils to use 15% of their Discretionary Grant for such works. The residents’ contribution remains at 20% of the total cost of the project, with the council meeting the remaining 80%.
By majority, in 2014, Fine Gael successfully forced through a scheme to divert up to €260,000 from the general road maintenance budget to repair a handful of private lane-ways, prompting a dramatic walk-out en masse by Fianna Fáil elected members. Fine Gael however denied a repeat of the proposal a year later, when they sought to allocate €40,000 from each of the three Municipal Districts to renew the scheme.
Shrugging off the jibes that his comments were “nonsense” and perhaps politically motivated, Fine Gael whip Paddy O’Reilly, one of the most vocal exponents in favour of LIS in recent years, seemingly took delight in pointing out the irony of sentiment behind Cllr Smith’s motion.
“You should have done it when you had the chance!” he stung back, pointing out that up on €1 million could have been spent on mending local lane-ways had funding been allowed to continue.
“I am proud to be a member of this Fine Gael party who promoted the idea of this scheme. We asked Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil to come on board. Be truthful about it. Let them tell the people it was them who decided not to spend the money,” he added.

Folly
But as he had done previously, Director of Services for Roads Joe McLoughlin pointed out the folly, and potential danger of reallocating funding from road restoration improvement and maintenance to LIS.
Pointing out the then Minister’s comments that the maintenance and strengthening of the regional and local road network across the country remains the priority, he said: “We cannot be seen to divert funds to lanes from public roads.”
Supporting the need for a specific allocation of funding from government for LIS, he said that under the scheme in recent years the Council had only managed to carry out work on four laneways. Those that had work carried out in the past would no longer receive priority if money were to be come available again.
A number of terse exchanges followed with several shots fired across the chamber, with Peter McVitty (FF), Clifford Kelly (FF), and Cllr Feeley also weighing into the debate.
Cllr Feeley stated that a special case should be made for Cavan as other councils around the country receive extra funding towards maritime, rail and airport works, of which Cavan had none, before Cllr Smith concluded: “This is not a Cavan issue. This is a national issue.”