More money will be given to repair Cork's flood-damaged roads, says Varadkar
Flooding in Midleton during Storm Babet. Cork County Council estimates the full cost of road repairs in East Cork could be at least €50m. Picture: Cork County Council
More money will be provided to Cork County Council to fix roads badly damaged during Storm Babet, the Taoiseach has said.
Leo Varadkar made his comments in the Dáil after Cork East Fine Gael TD David Stanton raised concerns about the level of road grants announced by the Department of Transport for Cork county last week.
East Cork bore the brunt of infrastructural damage during Storm Babet last October, with Midleton devastated. Dozens of roads in the wider region were damaged, and some were destroyed.
Cork County Council has done some emergency repairs to reopen key roads but others are still in shocking conditions. Some remain impassable.
The council estimates the full cost of road repairs could be at least €50m.
However last week, the department announced a severe weather grant of just €13m as part of its €83m allocation to the council for the maintenance and improvement of regional and local roads.
Council chief executive Valerie O’Sullivan welcomed the overall allocation but said the amount for storm damage repairs was nowhere near 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 an essential repairs programme countywide,” she said.
Mr Stanton raised the funding issue directly with the Taoiseach in the Dáil after the road grant amount was announced.
He said while Mr Varadkar’s visit to Midleton in the wake of the massive flood, and the government support for East Cork afterwards was welcome, the Taoiseach and other ministers did not see the full extent of the devastation caused to roads across the region.
Mr Varadkar said the general principle which was applied in other places, including Co Donegal, was that once the department had assessed the damage and the work that needed to be done, a special allocation would be made that was over and above the regular roads grant.
“What the deputy is saying to me is that an allocation has been made but it is not enough,” he said.
Mr Varadkar said he would discuss the issue with Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe.
“It is not just money from the Department of Transport — it is a special allocation and it falls into a different category,” he said.
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