‘Chronic’ underfunding on roads highlighted

The lack of funding for roadworks in the county was highlighted once again at the March meeting of the Cootehill/Bailieboro Municipal District last week when elected members reluctantly signed off on the Road Works programme for 2021 but made it clear more funding is required to repair roads in the area.

Director Of Services, Paddy Connaughton, said the current condition of many roads was down to the cumulative effect of chronic underfunding for decades, including during the recession. “The funding pie needs to be bigger coming from the Department,” he said.

Fine Gael’s Carmel Brady committed to bring a motion before Cavan County Council calling for a joint approach between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Environment to address the poor condition of rural roads in the Bailieboro Cootehill MD.

“This is where the product is coming from to feed the country. We have everything from the pigs, hens and ducks coming off rural roads. Everyone thinks everybody lives on the N3 or near all these major roads. That is not the reality on the ground. It is the rural areas the produce is coming from – the people driving the milk lorries and meal lorries are complaining about having to travel on these roads to collect milk and deliver animal meal,” said Cllr Brady.

Her initiative was supported by MD Chairman Val Smith and Cllr Clifford Kelly who described it as an “excellent idea”.

Cllr Smith pointed out that there is a high volume of agriculture and industry related traffic on the roads in the area and that has to be taken into consideration when looking for more funding. “We will just have to keep on harping for more funding,” he said.

Cllr Kelly pointed out how heavy rain and frost in recent times had caused further damage to many roads. “We will have to put pressure on our TDs and senators and the minister to get that additional funding,” he said.

He also proposed seeking a meeting with all Oireachtas members on the issue. “We could lobby them to explain to the minister the nature of our serious position with the roads structure,” he said.

His party colleague, Aidan Fitzpatrick, agreed.

Sinn Féin’s Cllr Paddy McDonald added: “We are stuck with what we have. We should put more pressure on government TDs and the minister in view of the amount of traffic that traverses our local roads and the mileage that is clocked up.”

He complimented the council staff who “are doing great work with the resources they have”.

“The HAP machine seems to be the way forward, and the work lasts. It is a lot better than the patcher. I would like to compliment the staff on doing a lot of work over the past two weeks,” said Cllr McDonald.

Cllr Kelly commended Mr Connaughton for securing the funding for two new machines and asked that one be designated for the Cootehill/Bailieboro area.

Cllr Brady complimented Kevin Glennon and his team for surveying all the roads in County Cavan. “We need to work with him to get more funding for our roads as a matter of urgency,” she said.

Cllr Smith highlighted the problems caused with water coming onto the roads. “During the last heavy rainfalls, a road was washed away in the area. The water was streaming out of gaps from fields and gulleys were blocks. This has done tremendous harm to our roads,” he said.

‘Chronic’ underfunding

Mr Connaughton thanked the councillors for adopting the programme.

He agreed the level of funding was “frustrating” and said the condition of many roads “showed the cumulative effect of chronic underfunding” since the recession.

“That is where the issue is – trying to catch up on the underfunding,” added Mr Connaughton.

“Arguing that we are getting less of a slice of a pie in Cavan is not really the issue. The pie needs to be bigger coming from the Department,” he added.

The Director of Services revealed that they are starting to prepare tender documents to replace the two existing patching machines. “We are also discussing with other local authorities to ascertain the number of patchers they have,” he said.

Drainage

Mr Connaughton accepted that the drainage issue was constantly being raised at Municipal District meetings and it is something “we may have to take on board and put additional resources in that area”.

Commenting specifically on Cllr Brady’s suggestion in relation to the Department of Agriculture, Mr Connaughton said: “There is a lot of merit in that motion and teasing it out further. We would be quite happy to discuss it with Cllr Brady in relation to the motion before it is submitted or afterwards.”

€130K for East West Link

Mr Connaughton announced some good news in the form of €130,000 in the Road Works programme to progress the East West link project, which is a strategic regional and local road.

“That funding is for the completion of a risk-based analysis to identify the highest priority sections. It is a good news story that might be getting lost in the overall scheme of things.

“That is about developing the strategic routes within the region and it may take some pressure off other roads. A long-term remedy could be there,” he said.

Welcoming the allocation, Cllr Kelly asked for a copy of the proposed route through Cavan of the road linking Sligo and Dundalk.

The director clarified that a number of sections will be identified by the end of the year and committed to giving the councillors a presentation once those had been signed off on.