Plenty of mileage in roads debate!

Roads are always a hot topic of discussion at Municipal District (MD) meetings, as it is one of the top issues elected representatives are lobbied about by their constituents. Thursday’s meeting gave councillors representing Carrickmacross and Castleblayney a unique opportunity to talk to the officials of Monaghan Co Council’s Roads Section in person.

Director of Services Nial O’Connor, Senior Executive Engineer Active Travel Unit Bernie McArdle, Senior Roads Engineer Kevin West and Senior Executive Engineer Donal McElwain, were all present for a two-hour discussion at the MD meeting on March 26.

The presentation covered funding, as well as progress on major road schemes, greenways, Active Travel projects, and public transport improvements.

The meeting heard that the Department of Transport had allocated €17.23M in Feb 2026 for local and regional roads. This amount excluded the additional targeted funding for the: Quiet Roads Pilot (€450k); Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Pilot (€70k); Abnormal Load Implementation (€250k) and Road Maintenance Strategy (€950k, including €530k of the Council’s own resources).

Separately, the local authority has applied for €2M in funds to repair flood damage caused by Storm Chandra, the result of which is pending.

A review of the pothole repair programme is underway. A month-long trial of a JCB PRO pothole repair machine will take place countywide in May. However, it was observed that this would be ineffective on stone roads, which are prevalent in the Carrickmacross-Castleblayney MD.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) provided €10.14M for major road projects in the area. This includes work on:

- Ballynacarry Bridge (N53): A new bridge and a short section of road will be built over the River Fane. Planning is already in place, and the full project will cost €13.1M.

- A Park and Ride facility in Carrickmacross: Funding of €300,000 has been set aside to develop the facility near the Dundalk Road. It will provide over 40 parking spaces, electric car charging, and bike parking.

The N2 Ardee–Castleblayney road project: €500,000 for design and environmental studies in 2026. Final approvals are expected between 2027 and 2029, with construction likely in the early 2030s.

The TII also allocated €4.3M towards the Ulster Canal Greenway, €3M of which will be spent linking Monaghan to Clones; and invested in other schemes along the N2 corridor.

The National Transport Authority funded Active Travel initiatives including the Carrickmacross–Castleblayney Road scheme, which received €50,000 for 2026 and is at preliminary design stage. The Carrickmacross R178/Oriel Road scheme from Steadfast junction to the roundabout on Convent Avenue is at detailed design stage. Land acquisition and planning is required for the proposed footpath from Lough na Glack to St Joseph’s Cemetery.

Under the Bus Stop Enhancement Programme, a countywide review which identified 40 priority bus stops was carried out. Works are underway to install/replace poles at 42 locations. Plans for 2026 include shelters, seating, Real Time Passenger Information boards, hard standings, accessible stops, associated design, safety audits and approvals.

Over €80,000 has been earmarked for the Urban Mobility / Local Transport Plan for Carrickmacross. A consultant was appointed in December 2025, and the first public consultation is scheduled for April 2026.

The presentation was debated thoroughly but Cathaoirleach Paul Gibbons (SF) gave latitude to the elected members because there was much to discuss.

He was disappointed that Castleblayney did not feature much in the presentation, which he felt was very concentrated on the south of the county. He made the case for a bus stop in Annyalla, which is caught between all three MDs, and was informed that the village would be getting a bus stop, by Bernie McArdle.

Cllr PJ O’Hanlon (FF) estimated “we need 180m-€200m, a fifth of a billion, between Cavan and Monaghan” to fix all the roads that need attention. He said that the engineers could only fix roads with the money they were given and that was no reflection on anyone who worked within Monaghan County Council.

Stating that Carrickmacross was the fastest growing town in the county and that DkIT now enjoyed university status given its affiliation with Queens, Cllr O'Hanlon argued that the greenway should be prioritised as it strengthened the links between the two towns.

Kevin West anticipated that 2027 would see projects in that vein progressed within the MD.

Cllr Noel Keelan (SF) said: “I never got as many complaints or calls about road conditions. One business I know of is considering calling it a day because of the condition of the roads, 60% of our businesses are based in rural locations. People don’t want to know about budgets, they just want to know when their road is going to be resurfaced!”

His party colleague Cllr Colm Carthy highlighted how potholes are appearing on good roads that never had them before and that there were roads on the brink of collapsing into verges. “The Ross Road needs to be progressed ASAP, it’s in bits, you can hear lorries ripping up the road,” he said.

Fine Gael's Aidan Campbell made the point: “We are all advocating for greenways, but a large number of landowners are not happy. When we go back to have consultations, we have to bring landowners on board.”

On the subject of bus stops, Cllr Peter Conlon (FG) noted: “I am on the Fine Gael Disabilities Forum and am hearing firsthand that there are people who physically can’t get on a bus because of the way the bus stop is set up.”

Things others often take for granted, he added, can present obstacles to persons with a disability in their daily lives.

In reference to works to replace the Ballynacarry Bridge and realign a section of the N53/A37 road, this project is being progressed by the council, TII, the Department for Infrastructure (DFI) NI Roads. It's aimed to provide a safer passageway over the River Fane on the route between Castleblayney in Co Monaghan and Culloville in County Armagh.

However, Councillors O’Hanlon (FF) and Campbell (FG) expressed a lot of annoyance that no money had been given towards the project from Northern Ireland to date.

Sinn Féin representatives Colm Carthy and Paul Gibbons made the point that they were as keen as their colleagues to get the scheme underway, but Stormont has no revenue-raising powers and is reliant on Westminster in that regard. Cllr Gibbons quipped that he could think of an easy solution.

Kevin West stressed that the project isn't being held up by the planning process in Northern Ireland.

In reference to funding, Director of Services Nial O’Connor added: “That’s a future battle we have to have, but I passionately believe in the cross-border element of this project.”