A long road, funding wise

Sinn Féin’s Noel Connell is calling on Cavan County Council to provide “more funding” for the upkeep of roads in the county.

His calls were made during this month’s meeting of the local authority, which took place last week in Council HQ at Cavan Courthouse.

The Mountnugent man said the lack of funding from central government “has led to the serious deterioration of our roads”.

“Bus drivers and carers are now refusing to go to houses where the routes have deteriorated because of the damage that is being done to their vehicles,” he continued. “The carers get mileage expenses but they certainly don’t get anything for the damage that is being done to their cars because of the state of the roads.”

Chiming in on the debate, Cllr Shane P. O’Reilly highlighted how the condition of roads has worsened “since the county grant was taken away” some years ago.

"That was an awful day when that happened and we have to get very real here about the amount of money that is needed for our roads,” he continued.

“We had nine months of rain and the roads were destroyed as a result. There isn’t a road now where people can traverse the way they need to whether they are going to school, work or whatever.

“We would need to be getting roads funding at the start of every year so that the people who are paying their taxes can get value for money. The country roads are disintegrating.” Fine Gaels Winston Bennett also supported the motion: "When we are getting funding, it must be at a timely part of the year so that a plan to use it can be made.”

‘Fantastic job’

Cllr Clifford Kelly (FF) then highlighted his delight at the “fantastic job” that has been done on local roads, despite “limited budgets”.

“I don’t think people realise how limited the budget actually is and, while there is no doubt that we do need substantial funding next year, I don’t know how we are going to convince the Department to give us the money but we do need the funding for our roads.”