OVER €82m will be spent on improving 104 regional and local roads in Cork county in 2025, but local councillors claim it is not enough to repair the rapidly deteriorating road network.
The €82,838,900 allocation is part of a national investment programme worth €713m – a figure that is 8% up on last year.
In welcoming the allocation, Minister of State Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan (FF), said it includes a €1.6m allocation for the realignment of the R595 at Old Court between Skibbereen to Baltimore.
Other specific improvement grants include €500,000 for the realignment of a series of bad bends at the Ilen Bridge between Drimoleague and Bantry; €500,000 for Archdeacon Duggan Bridge in Kinsale; and €100,000 for realignment works at Adrigole.
In addition to road restoration, improvement and maintenance, funding will be spent on bridge rehabilitation, safety improvement works, drainage works, climate change adaptation and resilience works, as well as the community involvement scheme.
The €82m budget for 2025 also includes an allocation of €6.8m for severe weather work throughout the county.
Speaking at a meeting of the Western Committee of Cork County Council on Monday, Cllr Alan Coleman (Ind) said 8% represents ‘a big increase’ nationally, but he said Cork County Council is not getting the funding it needs for essential road repairs.
Referring to a 2021 report by the All Island Research Observatory in Maynooth University, he said it has been shown that Cork County Council is not being fairly treated in terms of the allocation of State funding.
He said the funding doesn’t level up by head of population, or by the number of kilometres, and Cork County Council is therefore seriously under-resourced.
According to the Maynooth report, South Cork has a population of 151,000, which is equivalent to the 147,000 population of Kerry.
The report also noted that West Cork, which has a population of 89,974, and north Cork, which has a population of 90,498, are similar to Kilkenny and Westmeath.
The report made the case for additional funding based on the fact that West Cork is the eighth largest region in the country in terms of geographic size, while north Cork is tenth, and south Cork thirteenth.
Given the level of storm damage, Cllr Coleman said this year’s allocation offered no real increase and he suggested that the members would take it up at an executive and political level.
Cllr Coleman, Cllr Ann Bambury (SD) and the Western Committee chairperson Cllr Marie O’Sullivan (FG) all made the point that Bandon was granted more planning permissions than all of the West Cork towns in the last year, but the need for improved roads, and better access, could delay development.Director of roads Padraig Barrett reminded the councillors that the funding is up about €7m on the previous year.
And he pointed out that the funding for national road improvement works has yet to be announced.
West Cork divisional manager Michael Lynch welcomed the €7m increase, but acknowledged that the Council exists within ‘a financially constrained’ regime.
‘We would take more if we got it, but we have to acknowledge that we are getting support and that there will always be more work to be done,’ said Mr Lynch.
