Savage cut in local road funding is slammed

A “savage cut” of close to €700,000 in road funding for Meath will see motorists having to contend with even worse conditions on an already crumbling road network.
That was the stark warning issued this week by a Navan councillor who is furious that road funding for the county has dropped by close to €700,000 this year, as funds previously provided annually for urban roads in Navan, Trim and Kells have been cut from the budget entirely.
Cllr Shane Cassells of Fianna Fail branded the move as “shameful” and was critical of government TD’s who last week welcomed the road funding allocation.
Meanwhile, frustrated memers of the Better Roads for North Meath Campaign have threatened a series of protests outside Meath County Council and Deputy Damien English’s office, as road conditions north of the county remain in an appalling state.
Deputy Peadar Tóibín said he had asked Transport Minister, Pascal Donohoe, to meet with the group on more than a dozen occasions. While he had agreed to meet them before Christmas, the Minister is now refusing every single request.
Senator Thomas Byrne was also critical of the funding cuts, pointing out that the Road Safety Authority had just recently blamed road conditions for the fact that half of cars now fail the NCT, while Cllr Seand Drew said many residents will have to endure at least another 12 months attempting to negotiate their potholed and dangerous roads.
However, Deputy Helen McEntee said that last year there had been exceptional circumstances in that an additional €800,000 had been provided for the Community Involvement Scheme and Meath had done very well out of that scheme. There had been a greater uptake in the county, than in any other.
She pointed out that additional roads funding had been provided later in the year in 2014, and she would be doing the utmost to ensure that additional funding would be provided again this year.
Cllr Cassells said the overall reduction in funding of €691,409 was mainly due to the fact that the old Block Grants for the former administrative areas of Navan, Trim and Kells have not been replenished under the new county scheme, and instead the roads in these areas will have to be funded out of existing funds.
“As a result, there will now be a reduction in spend throughout the county, as six areas in Meath will have to compete for funding of some €12.2million, whereas last year the total amount available was €12.9million.