Deering welcomes a further €10 million investment in local roads for 2018

A further €10 million funding for improving local roads will be announced later this month, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Carlow Deputy Pat Deering said the early announcement of the Local Improvement Scheme will ensure repairs won’t be hampered by bad weather as they can be carried out over the summer months.

Deputy Deering said: “My Fine Gael colleague Minister Michael Ring has confirmed to me that he will announce the LIS allocation for this year later this month.

“I very much welcome this news. This scheme should not be underestimated, as it provides valuable access for people in rural areas to homes and farms as well as amenities such as lakes and rivers.

“Generally speaking, the local authority would not be in a position to fund repairs to such roads.

“Last year Carlow received two instalments of funding for these road repairs- the first tranche was €250,000 and the second amounted to €190,460.

“Funding for the LIS was limited in recent years due to constraints on the public finances. But Fine Gael in Government prioritised its reinstatement to strengthen rural communities around the country.

“The Department of Rural and Community Development provides up to 90% of the funding through the Local Authorities, with the remaining contribution coming from local residents, or Local Authorities in the case of roads leading to public amenities.”

Deputy Deering continued: “I found myself on a lane in the past number of days that had approximately ten people living on it.

“An old person lives at the very end of the lane but the local doctor and public health nurse have not been in a position to visit the person at the end of the lane, who was sick, because the surface is so bad.

“I have been working hard to get this road fixed myself and I hope there will be an opportunity for the scheme to fix other such examples this year.

“Having a funding stream on a continuous basis will help build a sustainable future for our most rural areas.”

ENDS