Fourteen years and ‘a lot of gravel’ later
In the 14 years PJ Monaghan’s family lane has been on the local authority list waiting to be fixed, he qualified as an electrician, buried his dad, emigrated to Australia where he worked for five years, and returned to Ireland to start building his own home.
“A lot of water has gone under the bridge,” says PJ, who in that same near decade-and-a-half forked out thousands of euro and spent countless man hours filling in the worst potholes and patches with gravel simply to make the lane passable, only then to watch the fruits of his labour wash away when heavy rain arrives.
The lane to the Monaghan family farm, located at Drumhillagh, Upper Lavey, is one of almost 20 roads earmarked for repair following the latest round of funding for rural roads and laneways in Co Cavan last week.
After €289,254 was allocated earlier this year, news that a further €830,135 had been made available under the Government’s Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) was widely welcomed.
The Monaghans’ lane, where PJ’s mum Nora still lives and which connects the family farm, was one of the next in the queue when LIS funding ran out in 2020.
There were days, PJ admits, when he wondered if the 250 metres of laneway might ever get mended. His family first submitted their form to council officials way back in 2007.
“I’ve put a lot of gravel into it over the years,” recalls PJ, who suggests the condition of the lane, despite its obvious disrepair, is possibly in better shape now than it was 14 years ago.
“I was lucky enough, I’d my own gravel but, hiring in a machine, you’re talking a thousand euro at least, and maybe within a month or two, if there was heavy rain, you’d be back to square one again. The water just sits and eats it away,” he reveals of the frustrating cycle.
The impending fix will cost the Monaghans over €2,000, with the local authority footing the lion’s share of the bill, a few thousand short of €50,000.
Aside from the rain, PJ had other reasons for wanting the lane mended as soon as possible. Around five years ago mum Nora broke her leg, and is confined when exercising to walking only around the level concrete portion outside her home.
“You wouldn’t walk it I tell you,” says Nora of the lane in its current state. “It’s a terror in some places.”
The Monaghans’ lane was included in an initial application for €1.17 million to the Department of Rural and Community Development.
The overall 2021 allocation (€1.12 million) for Cavan is among the highest in the country.
However, it’s estimated that €12 million is required to clear the current backlog of LIS schemes.
The council has 220 lanes, approved under the LIS scheme, in the queue subject to funding, with additional applications coming in.
Had the local authority been granted the full amount applied for this year, road staff would have only been able to fix 20 of these non-public roads.
PJ is hugely thankful to the council for helping his family get their application to this stage, and ultimately on a path to having the lane fixed.
“It’ll make a world of difference to us. It’s a job for life once it’s done,” notes PJ, who counts himself “lucky” given there are hundreds more families and indeed lanes in the county in a similar condition to his own, still waiting in the queue.
“There are pensioners up laneways, with nobody to go out an fill the potholes for them, where the lane is only getting worse and worse. We’re lucky enough in a way, but I know auld boys in lanes up around Crosskeys and that, I mean, you wouldn’t bring a tractor in some of them the way they are. We’re lucky we’re now at this end of it.”
Fine Gael’s Val Smith is among those who welcomed the funding announcement made by Minister and local TD Heather Humphreys last week.
‘Vital’ infrastructure
He states that laneways like that to the Monaghans’ home are a “vital piece of infrastructure for rural residents”.
Cllr Smith expanded: “It’s not just about business either, it’s about people getting on with their day-to-day lives as well. The likes of Nora can’t walk to the end of her lane, she’s afraid she’d fall. In the wintertime then she needs her son and neighbours to throw gravel on the lane simply to get out in her car. Only for these lanes are maintained by locals, a lot of these people wouldn’t get in or out at all.”
Considering that a high proportion of lanes waiting LIS funding are within his own electoral area, Cllr Smith has several gripes about how the system currently operates.
Aside from the narrow window in which councils must spent the allocated funding, he hits out that some recently added lanes are “much worse off” than lanes listed 10, 12, and even 14 years ago.
‘Embarrassing’
“It’s embarrassing” he remarks, having canvassed some lanes during the local elections back in 2014 and 2019, only to be still “none the wiser” as to when funding may be available to get work done.
“It’s the fairest way yes, first-come-first serve, I accept that, but I do still think we’ll have to look at if it can be done another way. Like the roadworks programme, where the council sends out an engineer, and it becomes a three-year programme where these lanes get assessed properly. I know it’s all to do with funding, and we’re delighted to get what we get, but we need to get ahead of the problem somehow, not just be chasing it for years down the line.”
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