€40 million has been announced for repairs and improvement works on non-public rural roads and laneways across the country under the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS).
The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys has announced over €2.14 million for road repairs in Cavan and Monaghan.
Over €1.2 million has been allocated to Cavan County Council while almost €940.000 to Monaghan County Council under the Local Improvement Scheme for this year. The national announcement brings to a total of almost €170 million that has been allocated to local authorities under the Scheme since it was re-introduced in 2017. The allocation of funds is for works to be carried out across 2024 and 2025 on roads not normally maintained by the local authorities.
Minister Humphreys said this money will improve hundreds of rural roads and laneways across the country.
“It’s a fantastic scheme under which the homeowners and farmers who use the lane make a small local contribution and the Government provides the balance of funding to ensure that people can access their homes and farms on good quality surfaces".
Meanwhile Cllr Sean Gilliland has welcomed the criteria change were only one herd number is required for a valid Local Improvement Scheme application.
"Only one herd number will be required for a valid LIS application. Up to now, two herd numbers were required to be using the lane, this will ensure that more families can now qualify for the scheme across the locality".
Welcoming the funding, Deputy Smyth said, “Good roads are absolutely vital for our rural communities, providing access to people’s homes and farms. The funding allocation for 2024/2025 for such roads across Cavan-Monaghan under the Local Improvement Scheme will make a huge difference in terms of access and connectivity".
Deputy Brendan Smith added that "unfortunately long delays have occurred for many households in having their lanes repaired as the dedicated funding from the Department of Transport for this particular Scheme ceased in 2012. There needs to be a continuous and substantial increase in funding for this Scheme to ensure that all eligible roads are brought up to a proper standard of repair”.
