Rising costs may cut amount of work done on Cork's roads, councillors told

Inflation will eat into the record €239m funding from the Government this year, Cork County Council’s director of roads and transportation said

A outside in Clonakilty, West Cork. Padraig Barrett, Cork County Council’s director of roads and transportation, said suppliers have already warned the local authority of rises in the price of 'stone, bitumen, tarmac, diesel' and other materials, which are all essential for maintaining the existing road network and constructing new ones. Picture: Andy Gibson

The director in charge of roads in county Cork has warned that the increasing costs of materials, labour, and fuel could soon impact the amount of work the council can do to maintain and improve networks across the region.

Despite receiving a record €239m funding from the Government this year, inflation as a result of increasing global conflicts will eat into what can be achieved.

Padraig Barrett, Cork County Council’s director of roads and transportation, said suppliers have already warned the local authority of rises in the price of “stone, bitumen, tarmac, diesel” and other materials, which are all essential for maintaining the existing road network and constructing new ones.

Labour costs are also increasing for contractors to keep their employees. The cost of fuel rises is not only impacting them, but the council’s large fleet of vehicles, which it has for its own road crews.

“As of today, we are not yet impacted. But it is a concern (going forward),” Mr Barrett told councillors attending a meeting of its Northern Division in Mallow.

He has welcomed the increase this year in government funding, after years when the county was getting far less than the national average per kilometre to maintain and upgrade its road infrastructure.

The neglect has led to many roads becoming substandard, and a bigger ‘catch-up’ is needed to repair them compared to many other counties, it has been claimed repeatedly by councillors.

Meanwhile, Niall Healy, the divisional manager in charge of the region, said the council is seeking more funds to upgrade the N72 and N73 national secondary roads, which run through North Cork.

The council is also looking for additional funding from the Department of Transport to tackle outstanding projects on roads and bridges in the region, which were badly damaged during Storm Babet in 2023.

Ongoing projects

However, Mr Barrett and his officials had some good news for councillors representing the North Cork region.

They said that plans for the route of the Mallow northern bypass (relief road), which will connect the N72 and N73 Fermoy and Mitchelstown roads with the N20 close to Mallow General Hospital, are almost completed. 

They will be submitted for planning permission to An Coimisiún Pleanála by the end of the year.

In the meantime, the route selection for the relief road in gridlocked Charleville is also likely to be identified before the end of this year.

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The council has revealed that it is also trying to acquire more land for additional public car parks in the same town.

Northern Division chairman, Fianna Fáil councillor Gearóid Murphy, welcomed the timeframe for the planning application for the Mallow project.

“There are major traffic congestion issues in Mallow, and we need to progress this (planning) as expeditiously as possible and bring life back to its town centre,” Mr Murphy said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Pat Hayes, who owns a business in the town, and Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden, also welcomed the move but asked that council officials provide them with more regular briefings on how the project is progressing.