Cavan County Councillors and local Oireachtas members were told yesterday that there is a €110M deficit when it comes to bringing all Cavan roads up to a good standard.
Oireachtas members were invited yesterday to join the councillors in a discussion on the Regional and Local Roads Network and funding surrounding the road network.
The council heard that there are 1140Km of roads that require structural/surface restoration at an estimated cost of €234M based on current rates.
Director of Service for Roads and Infrastructure Paddy Connaughton gave a presentation to councillors and Oireachtas members outlining the progress made and issues faced in relation to Cavan's local and regional road network. He said if restoration improvement funding remains at the current level of €10.7m it will take a minimum of 21 years to resurface all these roads.
The council was told that funding dropped sharply post 2009 and never fully recovered. Cllr Shane P O'Reilly described the meeting as very constructive.
Despite €400m being invested over 20 years, the backlog continues to grow and the need to bridge historic underinvestment was required.
Present were Brendan Smith TD, Cathy Bennett TD, David Maxwell TD, Matt Carthy TD, Senator Diarmuid Wilson, Senator Pauline Tully, Senator Sarah O'Reilly, and Senator Joe O'Reilly.
While Senator Robbie Gallagher gave his apologies and Minister Niamh Smyth confirmed to Northern Sound that she was in Florida on a trade mission.
All of the Oireachtas members present have called for greater allocations to Cavan's local and regional roads allocation. Factors that was hindering the roads network locally is the sheer length of the road network, topography, public transport coverage, and broad population dispersal across the rural area.
Councillors urged Oireachtas members to continue to make the case for increased funding for the county's roads at a national level.
