– This funding must be spent by Louth County Council without delay –
Fianna Fáil TD for Louth and East Meath Declan Breathnach has welcomed the announcement by Minister Michael Ring at the Department of Rural and Community Development of funding to Local Authorities under the Local Improvement Scheme with Louth getting an allocation of €250,000.
“While I welcome this funding of €250,000, it is important to point out that the Local Improvement Scheme is for non-county roads and I hope that those who I wrote to and encouraged to apply for the scheme will get the opportunity to avail of this funding and I understand that works have to be done before the end of 2017.”
The criteria for the scheme is set out below:-
- Eligible roads are non-public roads, often leading to houses and important community amenities such as graveyards, beaches, piers, mountains, etc. or other non-public roads that provide access to parcels of land, or provide access for harvesting purposes (including turf or seaweed) for two or more persons.
- There must be more than 1 landholder on an LIS road and the road must be open to the public.
- Road projects may provide for the construction, improvement or reconstruction of roads or bridges. The works should not be ordinary maintenance of a kind which the applicants could reasonably be expected to do themselves, but should provide for essential works of a more substantial kind such as strengthening weak sections, rut filling, resurfacing and opening water channels.
- Existing fences may also be removed, or set back and new fences provided, where necessary and feasible at reasonable cost and as part of a scheme. The provision of new fencing or replacement of existing fencing on their own are not eligible for grant assistance.
“While one never looks a gift horse in the mouth I have complained many times of the poor quality of other minor county roads that have received no pot-hole filling nor any form of repair over the last number of years and I have written to Minister Ring requesting that these roads receive their equitable share of funding for road surfacing. The approach of the management at Council level is to say that they only have sufficient fund to deal with busier roads. People on these tertiary roads are paying their motor taxes, tractor taxes, property taxes the same as everyone else and deserve some form of equity. They cannot avail of this Local Improvement Scheme and are being left out again.
“If money cannot be allocated to the Council for these roads then a similar scheme to LIS should be introduced where residents could apply if they are willing to pay 10% of the overall costs similar to LIS.”
-Ends-
Johanna Walsh, Office of Declan Breathnach T.D., Leinster House, Dublin 2
(T) 01 6183549 (Email) declan.breathnach@oireachtas.ie (Declan 087 2697638)