Over €650k extra emergency funding for Offaly road repairs

Some €658,500 additional funding for regional and local roads in Offaly, which were affected by persistent rainfall of the winter and spring has been announced.

The funding has been welcomed by local politicians, including by Minister of State Pippa Hackett who said: “Unfortunately, we are now experiencing the impact of climate change on our local and regional roads and I believe we are all familiar with road surfaces which have deteriorated in recent months. “The additional funding for local and regional roads is very welcome as we need to be able to go about our daily lives safely and with certainty. I believe that this is of particular importance in counties like Offaly where roads on peat bring their own challenges.

“I recently arranged for Minister Eamon Ryan to meet with the Offaly County Council roads team to discuss this, the impact of large-scale renewable energy projects on roads, and roads projects planned and under development. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Government for medium to longer term investment in our road network,” she said.

The funding was part of a €30m allocation countrywide by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Jack Chambers for regional and local roads. This is to deal specifically with the impact of climate change, which has contributed to a deterioration in the surface quality of certain parts of the network over the winter months. This emergency investment will assist in addressing the worst impacted areas of the road network.

The funding was distributed among local authorities based on road lengths per region.

Ferbane based Fianna Fáil Local Election candidate Barbara Daly welcomed the additional funding “We need to keep our roads safe.

This emergency investment will give Offaly County Council the funds necessary to repair potholes and other damage on our roads caused by the extremely heavy rainfall..

She added: "Fianna Fáil in Government is committed to supporting local authorities in the maintenance and renewal of the regional and local road network. The maintenance and development of roads infrastructure in the county particularly West Offaly is the cornerstone in the work of enterprise creation, tourism generation and development of sustainable rural communities in which families can live, work and find enjoyment. If elected on June 7, my focus will be very much on this aspect of the work ahead”.