‘Shocking’ state of roads drives call for funding
A LACK of government funding has left the county’s roads in a state of shocking disrepair, according to Cllr Fionntain O’Suilleabháin who brought a motion at last week’s meeting of Wexford County Council calling on the minister to meet a delegation from the local authority.
‘It’s a shocking issue. Our roads are in bits,’ the north Wexford man said.
‘The state of Co. Wexford’s non-national (or country roads) is now an emergency issue. Especially so, following the recent snow which has left rural roads in bits. The state of our secondary roads is disgraceful with urgent need not just for maintenance but for total reconstruction of many secondary roads.’
Cllr Ó Suilleabháin said this was confirmed in the National Oversight and Audit Committee (NOAC) report.
‘This came out in January and made for shocking reading in relation to this county’s roads in comparison to other counties,’ Cllr O’Suilleabháin.
Director of Services for Roads Eamonn Hore said County Wexford was ranked second worst in NOAC survey.
‘We’ve come out in the bottom 10 or 5 per cent in the state in the last three statewide surveys,’ Cllr Ó’Suilleabháin said.
‘To be fair, Wexford County Council has contributed significantly from its own resources towards its lengthy non-national/country roads network, and has not reduced the local element of funding, not withstanding the recession. However, this government and the former Fianna Fáil one before it, slashed roads funding in County Wexford by a massive 45 per cent - amounting to over 40 million euros over recent years, as was confirmed by Head of Roads, Éamonn Hore recently.’
In 2014, for example, Wexford County Council contributed 40 per cent of the total spend on non-national/country roads from its own resources – a figure much higher than other counties, he added.
‘Despite the fact that on many occasions the government had indicated that local authorities such as ours, who have a good record of investing their own resources in roads maintenance would receive additional funding, this has not happened in County Wexford.
‘This is now an emergency if we want to avoid major structural failure of the non-national network in the county – which would be far costlier in the long run.’
He said the surface dressing cycle which forms the basic level of maintenance and safety requirement has gone from the recommended one in eight years to one in 42.4 years.
‘This is a disgrace. I now propose that Eamonn Hore will outline the above points to the department and that he will be given unanimous, cross-party backing, by us here, to make the case for extra funding.’
He said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was in the county twice recently, as were two junior ministers the morning of the meeting ‘and yet we can’t seem to be able to get a half hour with the minister responsible for roads.
‘Why are our councillors not applying pressure to those with the power to secure proper roads funding? Councillors need to be also asking the local junior ministers and TDs to arrange such a meeting.’
Mr Hore said road building has been poorly funded in the county since 1996. ‘The chink of light is that we got €1.8m in additional funding but we are in the bottom 5 per cent.’
The motion was fully supported and Cllr Ger Carthy said he would personally invite his friend Mr Varadkar to Wexford to discuss the issue.