This year has brought with it unprecedented bad weather leaving many of the rural roads in Cork and Limerick ravaged by potholes and at times, impassable. This week, on Tuesday, it was announced that Cork County Council has been given €5.8 million additional funding for regional and local roads, while Limerick County Council has received €1.8 million as part of a €50 million Government investment.

The money will be mainly used for surface restoration works and the works are expected to be carried out in the summer and autumn months.

Galbally councillor, Eddie Ryan, told The Avondhu that any additional money is welcome, particularly in light of the fact that in the past two years, the roads budget has come down by 21%. “One fifth of our roads budget was decimated and I now welcome this regaining of some of our budget,” he said.

He added that roads around the Galtees and Kilmallock areas, including Galbally, Kilbehenny and Kilfinane have been destroyed by the bad weather.

“People have had to leave their cars on the road and walk home and those roads haven’t been touched yet. The Kilmallock area has 28% of the roads budget and the people in that area were disproportionately affected by all the cuts,” Cllr Ryan told The Avondhu.

Limerick Fine Gael TD Patrick O’Donovan welcomes the news that €1.8 million is to be made available for Limerick roads, saying that his representations to Minister Varadkar have not fallen on deaf ears.

“This funding will be used to improve road surfaces, which will come as a welcome relief to people across Limerick. There are certain roads in Limerick that have been left in a terrible state for far too long. It is very welcome that Minister Varadkar has recognised the gravity of this situation, and that additional funds are now being made available so work can be carried out in the coming months,” Deputy O’Donovan said.

The news for the Cork roads was welcomed by Minister Sean Sherlock, who said it was welcome news for Cork County Council.

“Even though the allocation is aimed primarily at restoration and improvement works, if the Council considers that there are particular safety schemes that need to be progressed urgently and that some of the additional funding should be allocated to such schemes, then the Council can make an application to the Department of Transport to use some funds on that basis.”