McEntee calls for 50% of road budget to be allocated to North Meath

Fine Gael TD for Meath East, Helen McEntee has called for 50% of next year’s roads funding to be spent in North Meath, as a concerted effort is needed to bring roads up to standard with the rest of the county.

“Significant and urgent investment in roads in North Meath is needed to bring them up to standard with the rest of the county. I am therefore calling for 50% of the funding available next year and subsequent years to be allocated to North Meath.

“At present North Meath receives 34% of funding as 34% of the road network is in this part of the county. While this is a fair distribution of resources on paper, it does not account for the extremely poor condition of many roads in North Meath and the fact there is a gulf in standards between these roads and others in the county.

“I have arranged to meet with County Council officials to discuss this issue with them as well as staff numbers working on road projects and the efficiencies of the systems in place at the moment.

“For the past two years I, along with colleagues, presented reports to the Minister for Transport and we subsequently secured extra funding but unfortunately this has not corresponded with progress in the number of projects taking place and it is not apparent driving through North Meath that any extra resources have been made available.

“While I understand that this year’s road programme has yet to start, many roads in need of upgrade and repair are not even on the programme plan for the next two years.

“In order to address the major disparity in standards, I am suggesting that 50% of the road budget be allocated to North Meath in order to tackle the never ending problem.”