M28 project funding expected, but Cork council disappointed with allocation for repairs

Cork County Council has expressed disappointment that it has been allocated just €13m by the Department of Transport for road repairs after Storm Babet, when the repair bill has been estimated at €50m.

A major funding announcement is expected today that will allow construction to start on the M28 road project in Cork this year.

But separately, Cork County Council has expressed disappointment that it has been allocated just €13m by the Department of Transport for road repairs after Storm Babet, when the repair bill has been estimated at €50m.

Council chief executive Valerie O'Sullivan said while the overall allocation of just over €83.1m was welcome, and broadly in line with the 2023 allocation which represented one of the most significant years of funding investment in Cork roads in recent times, the ‘specific improvement grants’ allocation was reduced by 33%.

That means only six of the council’s proposed 11 priority projects will proceed this year, she said.

She said the €13m allocation for severe weather repairs is just not enough.

"Having regard to the scale of devastation that occurred, particularly in East Cork, the allocation of €13m falls under what is required to deliver essential repairs programme countywide,” she said.

"The funding received is disappointing and will inevitably result in a situation whereby the county road network is deteriorating further instead of improving.

Temporary repairs were carried out at many locations. It is now inevitable that these roads will remain in a substandard and unacceptable state for some time to come.

The council said it plans to continue “proactive engagement” with the department to secure more funding.

It comes ahead of expected confirmation from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) today of a funding allocation of just over €17m that will allow the large and long-awaited M28 scheme — a major upgrade of some 13kms of the existing national road between Cork City’s Bloomfield interchange on the South Ring Road to Ringaskiddy — to go to tender and for building work to start before the end of this year.

Site preparatory work has been underway for some time along the existing N28 corridor which is part of the Trans-European Transport Network and the main access road to the Port of Cork at Ringaskiddy.

It is predominantly a single carriageway road and suffers from significant congestion, delays, and queuing at peak times at certain locations, especially around Carr’s Hill.

The road does not have the capacity to cater for current traffic volumes at peak times or future expected increases in traffic, TII has said.

TII is also expected to confirm some €4m in funding to allow the M20 Cork to Limerick transport project to proceed to the detailed design phase.

A preferred 200m wide corridor was unveiled last November with an additional 20km of active travel infrastructure added to the project to bring to 100km the total amount of walking and cycling infrastructure on what will be the first-of-its-kind multi-modal transport scheme in the country.