Call to fix Lough Egish road

Major ratepayers are being badly served by Monaghan County Council due to the condition of the R181 regional road in the Lough Egish area, according to Fine Gael’s Sean Gilliland.

He made the comment at the February council meeting and asked for an urgent review to be carried out on the road.

He said that up to 400 HGVs could traverse the road each day serving local agri-food enterprises including Lakeland Dairies and firms in the Lough Egish Food Park.

Cllr Gilliland told the meeting that the section of the R181 at Lough Egish passing through Shantonagh is also an important school bus route.

“This should be our number one priority as an economic corridor,” he urged.

“A section of the road is in a deplorable state and is not safe for use at the present time.”

Referring to vehicle repair costs faced by hauliers, Cllr Gilliland claimed that people traversing the road to Shantonagh village were taking their lives in their hands.

“We have a duty of care to provide infrastructure for businesses and residents,” he added.

His proposal for an urgent review was seconded by Cllr Sean Conlon (SF) and agreed unanimously.

Supporting Cllr Gilliland in his arguments, Cllr Seamus Treanor (Ind) said urgent funding for roads is needed across the county. Irish motorists are paying the second-highest level of transport-related taxes in Europe in order to drive on sub-standard roads, he claimed.

Cllr Treanor said the road at Liscarney in north Monaghan, which connected the Old Armagh Road to the Armagh Road, is “in bits” and, in his estimation, around €0.5M needed to be spent on it.