Were not gone away you know conaty

BACKLASH Former town councillor says county council responsible for road conditions

A former Fianna Fáil Cavan Town councillor has hit back following accusations at a recent meeting of the Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District Authority that bad management on the part of Cavan Town Council was to blame for the current poor condition of some roads around the county town.
Paddy Conaty penned a letter to the Celt this week in which he claimed that the county council was, in fact, responsible for most of the roads involved and that the town council had been constrained by funding.
“No one can deny that there are major problems with the road structure in the Cavan area. However, I wish to make a few observations.
“The original urban district council area was extended population only to increase the size of the town to up to 10,000 from over 3,000. This allowed Cavan Town to qualify for a decentralisation office and a section of the Department of Agriculture arrived in Cavan. While the population increased, the land area did not follow, which meant areas such as Drumnavana, Drumalee and many housing estates around the town, residents could vote for the Town Council but continued to be serviced by the county council. 
“The primary N3 passed from Dublin road to College Street, Farnham Street and Cathedral Road. This road as a national primary road was the responsibility of the National Roads Authority, not the Cavan Urban District Council.
“Therefore to sum up, most of the roads in the Cavan area were the responsibility of Cavan County Council not Cavan Town Council. As Cavan achieved rapid growth over the past few years, the amount of road funding has not increased accordingly,” concluded Mr Conaty who also reminded the current county councillors - “we’re not gone away you know.”

'Not good enough’
It was Fianna Fáil’s John Paul Feeley who had laid the blame for the condition of the roads with the former local authority - abolished a year ago last week when a new system of municipal districts replaced 80 town councils. Cllr Feeley had said that outlying areas of the town were “a poor relation” to roads in the town centre.
Party colleague Sean Smith had said that he was “appalled” at the condition of some of the roads when he realised they were inside the town boundary.
The matter had been raised for discussion by Fine Gael’s Madeleine Argue and Sinn Féin’s Eugene Greenan. Cllr Argue’s husband Terry was a sitting councillor on the former Cavan Town Council.
Cllr Madeleine Argue had described some roads at the municipal meeting as “very badly in need of repair” and highlighted one incident at Fairhill onto Main Street where a disabled person fell from his wheelchair due to the unevenness of the road surface.
Cllr Greenan had said for the county town “it’s not good enough”.
The council executive conceded at the meeting that the condition of roads would deteriorate further if increased funding for such work is not secured. The council has applied to Irish Water for additional funding to cover repairs to roads affected by the installation of water meters.
The council also agreed to write to the Department of the Environment and local government stating its case.