Department defends roads spend after almost one-fifth of budget spent in minister's constituency

Questions were raised about the use of the Local Improvement Scheme after it was revealed that 18% of the €10.5m fund went to Rural Community and Development Minister Heather Humphreys' constituency counties of Cavan and Monaghan

Heather Humphreys has questions to answer, say opposition TDs. File picture: Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland

The Department of Rural and Community Development has said money allocated for the repair of rural laneways was allocated fairly.

Questions were raised about the use of the Local Improvement Scheme after it was revealed that 18% of the €10.5m fund went to Minister Heather Humphreys' constituency counties of Cavan and Monaghan.

The Sunday Times revealed this week that the €1.9m allocation was nearly four times the amount given to Cork, the county with the country's biggest road network.

However, the department said the money came from a second tranche of the fund, made available due to Covid-related delays to capital projects and that councils were only able to apply for works which they could deliver this year.

The €1.9m allocation for the minister's constituency of Cavan and Monaghan was nearly four times the amount given to Cork, the county with the country's biggest road network. File picture

A spokesperson for the department said: "As the second tranche of funding has been made available from savings, it is a requirement that this funding must be spent by year-end. 

"As a result, officials in the department engaged directly with local authorities and asked them to provide details on how many lanes they could complete by year-end and what the costs would be. Each local authority received just over 70% of the funding which they advised they could deliver by year-end. 

"The allocations were based solely on the level of works local authorities themselves said they could deliver by the end of the year.

"The Department of Rural and Community Development is absolutely satisfied that the correct procedures were followed in relation to the allocation of funding under the scheme."

'Serious questions to answer'

Sinn Féin spokesperson on rural development Claire Kerrane said the minister has "serious questions to answer around funding allocations for rural investment".

Ms Kerrane said there needed to be transparency and openness about the allocation of public money.

The Government has an obligation to be open and transparent about public money. The minister must come forward and explain why these allocations were made and what criteria the decisions were based on.

“Many people living in rural Ireland will be very concerned by these figures. For far too long, our rural communities have been failed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments who have turned their backs on them and not delivered the funding and infrastructure they need. This frustration is deep and growing.

“Before the Dáil ended for summer recess, I raised concerns with Minister Humphreys about this scheme as I was worried the scheme was severely underfunded to meet demand. Minister Humphreys couldn’t answer my questions about how many applications would be unable to progress due to a lack of funding. She needs to be much more upfront about what decisions her department is making and why.

Rural Ireland has waited far too long already for fair treatment and must not be treated as an afterthought by this Government any longer.”

Speaking in the Dáil last month, Ms Kerrane said just 28 of 241 applications in her county of Galway had been approved.