Only eight lanes will be completed after less than €400,000 secured for works

CATHAOIRLEACH of the Laytown/Bettystown area council has said the sum of €359,000 to do repairs on eight lanes in the county is simply not enough.

Government funding under community projects that sees residents pay 10% to repair their cul-de-sacs was announced last week - but Meath had sought €1,991,625.50 to do up 53 lanes under the LIS scheme.

Paddy Meade says the sum received is just not enough. ‘As chair of the road Stratagy Committee in Meath County Council I must start by saying I welcome all funding but this is a devastating blow.’

He says the council don’t repair such roads anymore and with less funding for schemes, the roads will remain untouched for years.

‘ The fact that the government only allocated €10 million to cul-de-sac schemes for the entire country shows how low a priority they are,’ he feels.

The government policy in dividing out the money based on the size of a county does not take into account mileage or roads or population use, he added. He says vast areas of bogland in some counties will benefit but roads in Meath with maybe 10 houses on a lane won’t be done.