Cork will only get fraction of funds needed for damaged roads

By Eoin English

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

CORK city is to receive just a fraction of what it needs to repair damaged roads after the "big freeze".

Cork applied to central government for €2.17 million to carry out resurfacing works after roads were damaged by the record cold weather in January and February.

But new figures provided to City Hall councillors show the local authority will receive just €340,000 to carry out the works.

The figures were presented to members of the council’s finance committee on Monday.

The committee was told that engineers applied for a total of €2 million for resurfacing work deemed necessary before the big freeze.

That damage was worsened by the floods and cold weather.

They also applied for €170,000 to repair major damage caused directly by the severe weather.

While they argued that the €340,000 funding is double the amount sought for big freeze repairs, councillors said the other damaged roads have been made worse by the bad weather and also need urgent repairs.

While major road damage will be repaired, it is most likely that there will not be enough money to repair the smaller potholes.

Cllr Mick Barry described the government allocation as "an insult".

"The €1.83 million shortfall will mean that potholed roads in Cork city will continue to be a major feature of local life in 2010," he said.

Lord Mayor Cllr Dara Murphy said while the Government has given certain leeway tolocal authorities to spend roads budget money on repairs, he said the level of funding is far below what is needed.

The finance committee also learned that the council has been forced to spend its entire winter maintenance roads budget for 2010 dealing with the big freeze.

This means that the city could be facing a winter maintenance funding crisis this November and December.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, March 03, 2010