Extra cash for roads vetoed

NO emergency funding will be given to councils for repairing roads damaged in the severe weather snap.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said money would have to come from existing budgets.

The warning came as it emerged fears that road grit may have contaminated water supplies has led to testing in several counties.

The impact of heavy snow, sub-zero temperatures and aggressive gritting has left many roads badly damaged or pot-holed, but Mr Dempsey said it was up to local authorities how they prioritised using the €400m given to them for such occurrences and that extra cash was unlikely despite the weather conditions being the worst of their kind for almost half a century.

The minister said that councils were warned each year to hold back certain funds for weather-related spending, adding that there is no emergency fund for severe weather. “People will have to work within the allocations that they have been given,” he said.

Speaking after what is expected to be the second last meeting of the Government’s Emergency Response Committee, Mr Dempsey said there was no evidence that the mixed gritting salt which uses the material urea had contaminated water supplies.

However, tests are being carried out to pinpoint any seepage into the water supplies in the six areas where the chemical was used: Meath, Kildare, Dublin, Carlow and Tipperary North and South.