North Cork Fine Gael Councillor John Paul O’Shea has today, 24th October 2018 received confirmation that €1.1m in additional funding has been allocated to Cork County Council for further road repairs. This funding is part of an extra €15m allocated from the Government to carry out maintenance on roads damaged by Storm Emma, Storm Eleanor and other extreme weather events during the year.
Commenting on the announcement, Cllr. O’ Shea said “This is something I have been liaising with the Minister for Finance & Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohue TD on for a number of months now and I’m glad it has now come to fruition. The extreme weather events over the last year, such as Storm Eleanor, Storm Emma, flooding incidents and the summer sun have had a major impact on the regional and local road network. These events combined with the extended period of reduced funding for road maintenance following the economic downturn have left the road network much more vulnerable to damage”.
In addition, a €3m national allocation is being provided to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to assist with winter operations and maintenance works on national roads. TII assists local authorities with maintenance funding for national roads.
Cllr. O’ Shea concluded: “This additional funding boosts the regional and local road national budget in 2018 from €417m to €432m which represents an increase of 33% on the 2017 allocation. I hope to see many roads in North Cork benefit from this funding over the coming months”.
