Transport Infrastructure Ireland waiting on 'proposed interventions' for roads sparks concern from Cork councillors

Labour councillor Ronan Sheehan said motorists are constantly swerving out of the inner lane to avoid potholes. File Picture: Andy Gibson.

Two senior Cork County Council officials have flatly denied claims by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) that the roads authority doesn’t have the full picture about the dire state of some of the region’s main highways.

Niall Healy and Michael Lynch, who are assistant chief executives with the local authority, were reacting to concerns raised by councillors about correspondence from TII in relation to requests for a number of badly needed works on national secondary roads in the area.

Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden expressed concern about a paragraph in the letter which said TII was awaiting information from the council roads design office for "proposed interventions" along sections of the N20 between Grenagh and Buttevant that are littered with potholes.

The TII said it will consider if some, or all, of the proposed works can be funded within the constraints of money provided to it by the Department of Transport.

The roads authority acknowledged that there is a need for interventions at multiple locations, but added that because there has been "a significant increase in prices of bituminous products recently, funding additional works will be challenging and may require prioritisation". 

The council is understood to have highlighted the deteriorating state of the N20 and sections of the N72 and N73 in North Cork.

Mr Madden said he thought that some recent work undertaken by TII was on resurfacing the N20, but then he discovered it was on drainage.

“It’s the road surface condition we’ve been on about. They acknowledge that multiple locations need interventions," he said.

"In another part, they say they’re waiting for proposals from our roads design office. This has been raised over a year ago and we’re getting nowhere."

Labour councillor Ronan Sheehan said motorists are constantly swerving out of the inner lane to avoid potholes.

Mr Lynch said TII are not waiting on any reports from the local authority, and Mr Healy said council officials met with TII officials six weeks ago and highlighted the N20 road repairs as “a priority". 

Both officials said TII has indicated that it will meet a council delegation to discuss roads issues in the region.

Mr Madden and Fianna Fáil leader on the council Gearoid Murphy, who is also from North Cork, suggested that TII should separately meet delegations from each of the council’s three divisions.

Mr Lynch said that county by county meetings are “protocol” for TII, and he urged councillors to adhere to this. Mr Madden said a meeting date should be fixed as soon as possible.

Mr Healy said the best-case scenario was likely to be late June or early July, and he would inform councillors about an exact date as soon as officials have it.