Condition of roads raised again

Cavan County Council has been asked to carry out a “full survey” to include the level of cost needed in order to fix roads in the Bailieborough-Cootehill Municipal District.

“We have a massive problem with potholes,” lamented Fianna Fáil's Clifford Kelly, noting that surfaces already affected have dilapidated further since the matter was last discussed.

Cllr Kelly bemoaned the deplorable conditions in some areas when speaking at the recent meeting of members elected to the Bailieborough-Cootehill Municipal District.

He said the district itself was particularly affected due to the high level of traffic and, with the reopening of the country post COVID-19 lockdown, he feared for the future condition of some roads.

“We're getting a huge amount of complaints,” he said, addressing the council executive members present. “It's not very nice, and there are some very unkind.”

He stated that during the lockdown the council in Cavan had not carried out any works, but pressure came on Cllr Kelly after it was highlighted that a local authority in a neighbouring county managed to apply to a fix to a road.

Calling for a “full survey” to be carried out by Cavan County Council, to include costings, he said: “We need to know how much money is needed, and then what representations can be made.”

Area manager Alan Lyons responded, saying that on a county basis the council already fed into a national database, which saw roads surveyed once every three to five years, and this data, in turn, fed into the roadworks programme for the year ahead.

He said that the surveys took into account surface condition, but not issues such as drainage. However, Cllr Kelly contended drainage was “very, very, very important”, and opined over the widely publicised demise of local roads during the 1980s, saying: “We're only throwing good money after bad if we do a road, but the drainage will rip it up again if not put in place.”

He went on, at a later stage in the meeting, to demand that the MD representatives meet sooner rather than later.

“We have to be seen to do something,” he said when it was proposed the next meeting take place some three months out, in September.

Fine Gael's Val Smith, newly appointed chair of the MD in place of the outgoing Sarah O'Reilly of Aontú, supported his fellow councillor's claims; as did Fianna Fail's Aiden Fitzpatrick.

He said that cyclists were “in fear of their lives” of hitting potholes, recalling how his own brother had fallen from his bike.

Cllr Sarah O'Reilly, meanwhile, who had at the earlier June monthly meeting of the local authority earmarked 'roads' as a priority issue during her tenure as Cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council, said that the ordinary person living in Cavan was entitled to drive without worry of “ripping the wheel of their car".

Director of Services for the MD, Paddy Connaughton, welcomed any representations made by the Cllrs in seeking additional funding for the area, but suggested that the application to meet a Minister be made by a deputation from all three districts.

With the next MD meeting scheduled for next month, Fine Gael's Carmel Brady stated the elected members should “wait to see who gets the Ministerial positions and go from there".