‘We’re entitled to as good a road as the next man’

Thirteen neighbours gathered on a nameless road outside Cavan Town to express concerns over recurring potholes and water drainage on their local road.

The sign, indicating the L5554, is non-existent, something that makes having guests over difficult for the 10 households living on the rural lane.

Upon entering the road in the townland of Drumbo, The Anglo-Celt was greeted by neighbours each of whom want to see their road resurfaced and made safe for both motorists and walkers alike.

While the potholes weren’t so bad at the entrance, the Celt was escorted down the nearly 2km lane which revealed a multitude of surface craters to varying depths and which had to be avoided. Despite the dry day, surface water was still evident.

Local man Gerry Smith wrote to Cavan County Council last year. On March 5, 2024, he received a letter, seen by The Anglo-Celt, detailing that the road was surveyed and given consideration when drawing up the current three-year Road Works Programme, which ran until the end of 2024.

“Unfortunately, the L5554 did not make the current programme,” the letter read.

It has since emerged that the road has not made the cut for the 2025-2027 programme either.

- Scroll down for full council statement -

In the meantime, the letter states: “We will endeavour to upkeep these roads as best as possible given the limited resources available to us.”

“We’re normal people, we do get visitors and all that,” says Liam Murphy, expressing frustration that there is no name marker on the road.

Continuing down the lane takes you to Ballyhaise and Butlersbridge, which some people use as a shortcut out of Cavan.

“They come over and they come up this road - so to say there’s not enough traffic, it’s not good enough,” Liam states.

“The people that build these houses, they get nothing. If you’re in town, you have footpaths, you have lighting, you have everything; when you’re out in the country, you get nothing,” adds Gerry.

One thing that upsets Liam is that “two days before an election” somebody came and “filled up the worst potholes”.

“It was as bad a week later,” he fumes. “To me it was the insult of saying ‘that will keep them quiet’. That just annoyed me a wee bit and I don’t like being treated as a second-class citizen.”

Liam says the people who gathered “all pay their taxes” and are “all hard working”. Most have lived on the road for all of their lives.

“We think we’re entitled to as good a road as the next man.”

Liam, and the rest of the neighbours would like the council come out and “do a proper drainage” on the road.

“I think water crossing the road is the biggest problem and I think they need to put in a proper underneath surface,” he says.

“It’s not that were all tearing up and down the road,” he said, adding that a local farmer uses the road and is “entitled to do that”.

“They’re entitled to farm but they’re also entitled to use the road publicly as well.”

While he doesn’t live on the road, Paul Heaslip uses it two to three times per day to access his farm.

“What’s it doing to my car?” he asks, describing that to go a different route by Ballyhaise Butlersbridge puts “an extra 10 or 15 minutes” on his daily journey.

“It just destroys my car,” he says, adding that he is “constantly going to the garage” due to the road condition.

“I try to avoid the holes but you can’t especially when it’s raining, you don’t know where they are.”

Phyllis Shiels would have used the road to walk and drive on in the past but now uses an alternative route.

“You just can’t avoid the potholes when you’re walking, I’m always afraid of tripping and falling into them so I stopped coming this way.

“If I’m coming from town, I go straight into Ballyhaise and in the other road because, since January, I had two flat tyres and the guy that fixed them said you must live on a terrible road.”

Having stopped using the L5554, she has had no issues with her tyres since.

Paul McGarrity has been living on the road for 13 years now and has noticed that “all [the council] do is fill in the potholes” and “that lasts for a few months”.

“There’s been a lot of wastage” he claims by the council “doing small jobs instead of one proper job”.

“It looks great but it only lasts four weeks and it’s back to the way it was then you’re on the phone ringing them.”

Liam said: “We’re not looking for a motorway” however they would like to see the road repaired.

L5554 did not make current roads programme - council

Cavan County Council has said the L5554, a local secondary road, has not made the cut for the current Road Works Programme, which runs from 2025 until 2027.

Asked about the prospect of resurfacing, a spokesperson for the local authority provided this statement.

“The L-5554 road along with all other roads in the district, were surveyed and given consideration when drawing up the current three-year Road Works Programme, which runs from 2025 until the end of 2027.

“Unfortunately, the L5554, which is a local secondary road, did not make the current programme.”

The spokesperson listed the criteria for prioritising roads for each programme including pavement surface condition survey, strategic nature of the route, volume and nature of traffic using route, number of dwellings/business properties on route and budgetary constraints.

“This road, however, will be considered, along with all other roads in this district, for inclusion on the next Road Works Programme, which runs from the beginning of 2028 until the end of 2030,” the statement read.

“In the meantime, as with all the roads on our network, we will endeavour to maintain these roads in the best condition possible given the limited resources available to us,” said the council spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that “the road marker will be investigated and replaced if necessary”.