NRA summoned to explain lack of funding for roads

ANGRY councillors in west Cork are to summon senior National Roads Authority (NRA) officials to explain why their region is being overlooked for proper infrastructural funding, which is leading to a drop-off in tourists and turning off potential industrialists.

Years of disquiet finally boiled over at a meeting in Clonakilty where councillors unanimously voted to tackle the problem head on.

Councillor Donal O’Rourke (FF) led the charge when he claimed there are sections of the N71 between Bandon and Clonakilty which are completely substandard.

He then rounded on the NRA by stating that a new roundabout it had painted onto the road near the GAA club in Bandon was nothing short of “a pimple on a bull’s arse”.

“If that’s the NRA’s attitude [to West Cork] then we’re in trouble,” Mr O’Rourke said.

He added that job creation was out of the question in the region because potential industrialists wouldn’t dream of locating there with the present state of the roads.

This was borne out last year when developer Michael O’Flynn attempted to take some industrialists to see a factory in Dunmanway. They were so shocked by traffic problems that they turned back at Innishannon.

Councillor Maura Cal McCarthy said she regularly saw people taking their lives in their hands trying to overtake tractors.

“The NRA doesn’t seem to know we exist in west Cork. We are absolutely dependent on roads, we have no rail network,” said councillor Christy O’Sullivan (IND).

Councillor Paddy Sheehan (FG) said the N71 is the region’s lifeline and listed a series of treacherous stretches on it around Owenahincha and Skibbereen.

Councillor John Collins (FG) said a €2 million allocation for maintaining the N71 this was “a paltry sum.”

Councillors have written to the NRA demanding that officials attend one of their future meetings to explain their lack of funding.