Over €830K boost for private lanes across County Cavan
News Update
Residents on private laneways and cul de sacs across the county, waiting on road upgrades - some of them more than 10 years, will be heartened today by news of additional funding to the local authority for these type of works.
A further €830,135 has been confirmed this morning to improve rural roads and laneways in County Cavan - representing a four-fold increase on what was already allocated earlier this year.
The allocation is on top of the €289,254 allocated to County Cavan earlier this year under the Government’s Local Improvement Scheme (LIS).
This second tranche of funding announced by Minister for Rural and Community Development and local TD, Heather Humphreys, brings the overall budget for Cavan to almost €1.12 million, which is among the highest allocations in the country.
A total of €21 million has been allocated nationwide. County Monaghan received a top up of almost €1.06M, bringing its total allocation to €1.326M for the year.
The LIS is designed to support the continued improvement of non-public roads in rural communities.
The funding being announced by Minister Humphreys today will improve access to rural homes and farms, as well as outdoor amenities such as our lakes, rivers, mountains and beaches.
These roads and laneways are not normally maintained by locally authorities but, nonetheless, represent a vital piece of infrastructure for rural residents.
Cavan County Council will now work with the Department of Rural and Community Development in order to spend the funding on road repairs by the end of the year and to clear backlogs in applications.
The LIS scheme was re-introduced in 2017 and over 10,000 landowners and rural residents have benefited to date.
Announcing the allocation of the further €830,135 in funding, Minister Humphreys said:
“’Our Rural Future’, the Government’s ambitious five year policy for Rural Ireland, commits to increasing the Government’s investment in our rural roads through the Local Improvement Scheme."
Referring to the funding of over €1M for the county, she said: “This demonstrates my commitment to improving connectivity for rural residents in County Cavan – whether it be access to homes, farms or outdoor amenities.”
Under LIS, local authorities are responsible for identifying and prioritising roads for improvement works under the scheme, in consultation with residents/landowners.
The works must be completed before the end of the year.
The funding provided by the Department of Rural and Community Development will be complemented by a local financial contribution from landowners/householders, as well as from local authority resources.
There will be a cap of €1,200 on the amount that any individual householder or landowner will be asked to contribute towards the cost of repairs to their road.
Over 200 laneways on waiting list
In County Cavan, approximately 220 applications under the LIS have been approved, waiting funding, some of them dating back to 2009.
Commenting on the backlog, the Minister continued: “I am very much aware of the need to tackle the backlog of eligible applications that exist within many of our local authorities.
“My Department over the coming months will work closely with local authorities to main progress in this regard so that rural residents can benefit.
“Increasing rural connectivity is a vital component of ‘Our Rural Future’. With today’s announcement of further funding, we will have invested €80 million in upgrading rural roads and laneways across the country since 2017.”
Fianna Fáil's Brendan Smith welcomed the funding but conceded more is needed to clear the backlog.
"Through Parliamentary Questions in Dáil Éireann to the Minister for Rural and Community Development and to the Minister for Transport I have repeatedly called for a substantial investment in this particular road network. These laneways serve large numbers of families, small businesses, family farms and community facilities and people using these roads deserve to have them brought up to a proper standard.
"The funding from the Department of Community and Rural Development is very welcome but I have consistently called for the Department of Transport to re-introduce the specific funding stream for the Local Improvement Scheme that existed up until 2012. This Department, namely Transport, which has responsibility for roads should be providing adequate funding on an annual basis for laneways that come under the LIS,” argued Deputy Smith.
Fine Gael Senator Joe O'Reilly also welcomed the allocation.
He further explained: "The county allocations are based on the level of works that each local authority indicated they could complete before the end of the year.
“The higher the level of demand that could be met by a local authority before the end of the year, the higher the level of funding they have been allocated,” the Fine Gael representative said.
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