Road funding in County Galway falls short of the mark

But the reality is that the Council has just 12% of the funding required to deal with the volume of applications for Local Improvement Schemes (LIS) – and more applications are arriving by the week.

A meeting of Galway County Council heard that the local authority has an allocation of almost €960,000 which would complete around 24 schemes – a fraction of the current 165 applications.

The LIS provides funding to help local authorities carry out improvement works on private and non-publicly maintained roads and lanes that are not normally looked after by local authorities.

Director of Services, Derek Pender, said that the allocation received from central government will not accommodate the volume of applications; it would require around €8 million to deal with the submissions already made.

He said this was the first allocation for some time and the Council would be applying for further funding while, at the same time, he stressed the number of applications that had been received under the scheme.

According to Cllr Michael Connolly (FF) it will take ten to twelve years to clear the current backlog based on that level of funding.

“I know it may seem futile, but we cannot stop taking applications for funding under the scheme despite the fact that we are grossly underfunded,” he said.

“I have seen some of the roads that are the subject of applications, and they are in dire straits. The verges need trimming, and the surfaces are in a terrible condition.

“It is like a firefighting situation. Even if the money comes for a scheme, it is only patchwork and will need to be addressed in another couple of years again. They really need to be taken in charge by the Council,” Cllr Connolly said.

Headford’s Cllr Andrew Reddington (FG) said that there was a huge waiting list for funding and it was often the case that applications were being resubmitted having failed to get approval from an earlier effort.

“Given the volume of applications, we have to see if there is any more money available. Some of the applicants that I am aware of are in a desperate situation in that the roads are impassable,” he said as he proposed that an application for further funding be submitted.

Roads covered by the scheme could include access points to homes and farms, as well as public amenities including lakes, rivers or beaches, piers, heritage sites or graveyards.

Cllr Mary Hoade (FF) said that she knew of applicants that have been told that any LIS scheme would be four and five years away.

She added that it was important to address the schemes that can be but said that the biggest problem was the waiting list.

Mr Pender pointed out that qualification for an LIS scheme did not mean that the Council would be taking in charge a road, as it did not have the resources to do this.