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MacCurtain Street, Fermoy – where the ‘very bad’ state of the footpath needs resolving. Photo: Google Maps

Cork County Council has been unable to find any written commitment from the National Roads Authority to fund the refurbishment/enhancement of the length of the old N8 through Fermoy, the recent meeting of Fermoy Town Council was told.

In a letter to Town Clerk Pauline Moriarty, Director of Services Tom Stritch advised that he'd made enquiries among those that would have been involved at the time. It was the norm for the NRA about ten years ago to refurbish/enhance former national primary routes through towns once bypasses were completed.

"Definitely that expectation existed in Fermoy," he stated. It would have been in that context that the drawing which they sent with a recent letter asking about funding was prepared. At the time there wasn't a consensus locally on an appropriate layout for parts of Phase 1," the letter further explained.

When the M8 was completed on the Fermoy bypass section, there were outstanding works in Fermoy, Rathcormac and Watergrasshill and the NRA provided money towards the cost of those works which, the Director of Services said, "was inadequate to complete all of Cork County Council's aspirations."

There was no question of funding being reallocated away from Fermoy, it was a case of the NRA funding only being adequate to carry out those works completed to date.

All of this arose in the summer when the subject of footpath repairs outside Charlie Mac's premises in MacCurtain Street was raised. The footpath is a very bad state.

"MacCurtain Street is now a regional road in the charge of Cork County Council," the Director of Services went on, "and I acknowledge that the section of footpath is in poor condition. The council will endeavour to prioritise the section for replacement and the area engineer is actively seeking a source of funding for the work," the letter stated.

Cllr Frank O'Flynn raised the footpath issues at a recent meeting of Fermoy Electoral Area Committee of the County Council, calling for it to be replaced. He was told funding is awaited and the work would commence as soon as possible but they also had to be cognizant of the constraints and restrictions in working on that section of the main thoroughfare in the busy trading period between December 8 to 25.

Pearse Square, where it was also hoped to have works done, is still part of the national route, they were told and it is the Council's intention to continue to press the NRA to fund refurbishment works there. "I would hope that our National Roads Office will be in a position to develop a design for it over the coming months," the letter further stated.

In response, Cllr Noel McCarthy said it was "very disappointing to see the NRA put us in this situation. We were promised we would get funding in three phases. To be let down is a disgrace. Our money should have been ring-fenced. The money was spent elsewhere. I don't begrudge those other places but it was promised here."

Cllr John Murphy agreed. "The north side of the town needs work too," he pointed out.

Cllr Pa O'Driscoll said, in fairness to the NRA, they had looked into it and the council is now trying to get money elsewhere.

Cllr Seamus Coleman queried whether the commitment they had was a verbal rather than a written one and asked why did they spend thousands on plans if no-one was going to fund the work.

"It was all agreed. The NRA was going to pay, Mayor Olive Corcoran stressed. She said she didn't believe the letter. "It's rubbish." "So why can't they find written confirmation then? It couldn't have gone to public consultation without it, surely" Cllr Coleman asked.

Town Clerk Pauline Moriarty rowed in saying that while she wasn't there at the time she had enquired and was told the NRA gave Cork County Council the bulk of the money to do the works. "We had three works. I am trying to tie down the three phases to the allocation."

"The NRA didn't hand over a large sum without there being a paper trail," Cllr Coleman insisted. "It's like as if we made it up." It's the money for phases two and three that are outstanding," Cllr Tadhg O'Donovan pointed out.

It was agreed to write back to the Director of Services about the matter. It was further agreed, at the conclusion of the lengthy discussion, to demand that the county manager tell them where is the money for phases two and three.

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