Minister for Transport prepares proposals for dealing with recently damaged roads, writes Tim O'Brien
AS RECEDING floodwaters reveal severe damage to local and county roads across the country, the Government is coming under increasing pressure to reverse its decision not to increase the €400m budget for road maintenance and repairs this year.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey will face calls for the setting up of a special fund to handle the rebuilding of the worst affected roads, when he answers questions at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport this afternoon.
It is the first time Mr Dempsey is to face questions on the Government handling of the weather crisis from opposition TDs and Senators since his return from a New Year break earlier this month.
Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd is to ask the Minister what are his proposals to deal with widespread damage to local roads, particularly in counties such as Carlow, where whole sections of road are now impassable and which the AA has said need to be rebuilt.
However, a spokesman for the Minister made it plain yesterday that any additional funding for counties badly hit will have to come from a redistribution of funding from other counties, maintaining the overall cost within the budgeted €400m.
Counties Carlow, Wicklow, Wexford, Clare and Cork have all experienced severe damage to local and county roads with a large numbers of other counties reporting a major increase in the size and number of potholes.
The Minister’s spokesman told The Irish Times Mr Dempsey would announce the individual, local and regional road allocations for each county in about two weeks’ time and was studying the estimates of need which are currently being submitted by local authorities.
“He will be taking an individual look at each county and seeing what each needs and that is what he is doing at the moment,” said the spokesman.
It is understood that any under spend from last year is likely to be brought into this year’s budget, but local authorities which didn’t spent their allocation in 2009 may now see funds being redistributed to other counties which have been hardest hit in the current crisis.
Yesterday Mr O’Dowd said the money was still likely to fall far short of what is needed to fix the roads. He pointed out the €400m allocation was already considerably down on previous years when less winter damage had occurred. “I will be calling for an emergency fund to be put in place. It is now essential that this is reviewed,” he said.
Last Thursday Mr Dempsey said a €400 million road works allocation had been agreed around the time of the Budget. “The same rules apply every year,” he said. “They work inside the budget they have.”
He said no emergency funding was available from Government but that local authorities were always advised to “keep aside a certain amount of their allocation to meet weather contingencies”.
Following the Ministers’ comments melting snow and ice on local and county roads has revealed the extent of the damage which in a number of areas was described as severe. In some instances craters several feet deep have been left where whole sections of road have been washed away while in others the foundation of the road has disappeared. Television pictures over recent days showed locals standing waist deep in trenches in some areas. Yesterday the AA expressed concern that the extent of the damage may not be visible to motorists in flood conditions, posing a threat to road safety and potentially serious damage to cars.
