The NRA said this week it has already provided approximately €3.2m in funding to Cork County Council for the re-instatement of roads in the vicinity of Fermoy that were affected by construction work on the M8 motorway scheme.

They were responding to a call from Fermoy town councillors and the area engineer Brendan O’Gorman for them to make good on their promise to do the works.

In an e-mail on the matter sent this week to Sinn Fein TD Sandra McLellan who enquired about the status of the works, Gary Lynch, the NRA’s Programme and Regulatory Manager explained that over €2m of that funding was availed of by the council to carry out road, pavement improvement and other related works in Fermoy town. The balance of the funding was used by the council, he said, for re-instatement works at various locations, including Rathcormac and on the former N8.
 
“The provision of funding for any additional works in Fermoy is a matter for Cork County Council which is the road authority for the area. Funding for works on local and regional roads may, however, be supplemented by grant allocations made by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport,” he concluded.

Area engineer Brendan O’Gorman said however that it wasn’t a monetary committment that was made, it was a commitment to carry out the work in Fermoy in three phases and he is calling on them to honour that firm commitment. 

“Saying money was allocated is their argument. It’s not acceptable to me. I want the design progressed. Phases two and three couldn’t have been started up until now with the flood relief works,” he pointed out, vowing “the battle starts here!”