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Cllr Eddie Ryan standing in a pothole in Kilbehenny, which reaches up past his knees, with local man Ken Hughes who is campaigning to have the road near his house fixed. Photo: Sandra Quinn

The roads around South Limerick and Tipperary are in a worse state now than they were when horses and carts were using them, according to Fianna Fail Councillor Eddie Ryan, who has been campaigning to get emergency funding to fix them.

Speaking after an emergency meeting yesterday (Wednesday), Cllr Ryan told The Avondhu that a motion was unanimously passed that the council would write to Minister Leo Varadkar to ask that extra funding be made available for roads in the county and also that recent cuts be restored.

The party leaders will also be reiterating the point when Minister Varadkar visits Abbeyfeale and Adare in the coming weeks.

Cllr Ryan said that he is glad the decision was unanimous as it shows that everyone recognises how bad the problem has gotten, and he said that for people paying taxes, it is imperative that the roads are in a condition that they can drive on them.

Speaking about the deplorable state of the roads around Kilbehenny, Anglesboro, Galbally and Glenroe, Cllr Ryan said that many of these roads have been enduring three weeks rain in just three hours and the roads are simply crumbling away, to the detriment of the residents and drivers.

He added that when the councils amalgamate, there is the very real fear that rural areas such as these will become even more neglected.

Cllr Ryan said that some of these roads are on the road programme to be fixed in 2016, but that by then, some of these roads might not be there any longer and as it is, he said that some residents cannot even travel up certain roads.

Ken Hughes from Kilbehenny has gotten to the stage where he had to put a blue barrell into a pothole that is more than 3 feet deep, as he feared that someone would drive into it and at the moment, his road is so bad, that no commercial vehicles can get to his house.

Himself and his wife built their house in 2008 and he said that the road was never great, but if they were to build it now, the trucks and vehicles would not be able to get to them.

He has blown three tyres in the past four months because of the state of the roads and he said that drainage is a big problem, as there is nowhere for the water from the mountain to go.

His neighbour Donal Landers also has a slurry tank, which is full to capacity and needs to be emptied, but he can't get it down the road to have it done.

Mr Hughes added that there is also a risk with emergency services accessing their road and Cllr Ryan added that the Kilmallock Fire Brigade did a training exercise in the area and couldn't actually travel up the road, so if an accident occurs, the emergency services will not be able to get to them because of the terrible state of the roads.

Mr Hughes said that when the Property Tax comes in, he will be expected to pay it for the services from the council, but he pointed out that he has no lighting, no footpaths, he drills his own well and cannot even drive safely on the road outside his house.

Cllr Ryan said that 45 years ago, the father of the Lander's brothers was on a delegation to get the same road fixed and now it is still a problem.

"These roads have been left behind. They have gotten so bad that in Anglesboro, residents had to leave their cars at the bottom of the hill in Lackendara because the road was too bad to drive up."

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