11 per cent of roads in County Monaghan are identified as being the worst in the country and "showing signs of severe structural failure". And, the Carrickmacross - Castleblayney and Ballybay - Clones Municipal Districts are among the worst in the country with more than 35 per cent of the roads infrastructure in these two areas, placed in the poorest categories in a study. It states of the 300km of regional roads in County Monaghan, 33km are in poor state.
And, of the 550km of local primary roads in Monaghan, 66km or 12 per cent have been labelled in the poorest category while a quarter of the 1230 kilometres of tertiary roads in Monaghan are showing signs of severe structural failure. Monaghan-based Senator Robbie Gallagher raised the worrying statistics with Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Peter Burke, in the Seanad last week.
Deputy Burke, acknowledged that, nationally, regional roads take 55 per cent of our traffic and as such, his department allocated an additional €22.5 million for roads last year. Of that, Cavan received €687,500 and Monaghan received €580,000 in roads funding. Senator Gallagher says a lot more money is needed by the SMEs employing local people and trying to do business; parents bringing children to school and the commuters who use Monaghan's roads.
Senator Gallagher said "A survey was done recently, nationally, that looked at the structure of all the road networks in the entire country and Monaghan and Cavan, to a lesser extent, have both failed very, very badly in that report. Particularly so in Monaghan, the Blayney-Carrickamcross Municipal District was very, very poor and indeed, so does Ballybay-Clones MD. They come out as particularly poor in Monaghan.
The statistics in full are as follows:
- We have approx. 300km of Regional Roads in the county, currently 11% are in the poorest PSCI category 1-4 (showing severe structural failure) – 33km.
- We have approx. 550km of Local Primary Roads in the county, currently 12% are in the poorest PSCI category 1-4 (showing severe structural failure) – 66km.
- We have approx. 580km of Local Secondary Roads in the county, currently 17% are in the poorest PSCI category 1-4 (showing severe structural failure) – 98km.
- We have approx. 1020km of Local Tertiary Roads in the county, currently 25% are in the poorest PSCI category 1-4 (showing severe structural failure) – 255km, with the Castleblayney/Carrickmacross MD having over 35% of their road network in the poorest category, this is one of the worst MDs in the country.
All of Monaghan County Councils roads in the worst PSCI category 1-4 (showing severe structural failure) are poorer than national average.
- It is estimated that €5.8mIllion additional funding is required annually over and above the current Restoration Improvement RI for structural improvement which was 7.6million in 2023. This is to maintain the road network in its current state as outlined above.
