Cork East candidate, Barbara Ahern this week said that there has been a massive drop off in road maintenance spending in Cork over the past few years.
“Since 2012, the spend on regional and local roads has been almost 50% less than what is needed to keep the roads in good condition – the Department of Transport estimates that €75m is required to keep Cork roads in their steady state condition, however the Government has spent an average of €40m a year since 2013.”
“Motor tax, which should be pumped back into local authorities to pay for roads and local infrastructure upgrades, is being spent on bulking up Irish Water.”
“Motor tax, which should be pumped back into local authorities to pay for roads and local infrastructure upgrades, is being spent on bulking up Irish Water. Around €48m of the total €138m motor tax receipts collected from Cork was used to fund the €324m subvention going towards the establishment of Irish Water in 2015. This money is purely to set up the Irish Water corporation, not a cent of it will be spent on improving water infrastructure.
“Fianna Fáil consistently opposed the creation of Irish Water. We are drawing a line under the massive waste of this Government and will stop throwing good money after bad. Fianna Fáil will abolish Irish Water and ensure there are no water charges in the lifetime of the next Government”, she concluded.
