Still no funding to replace culvert that flooded N25 in 2023
CorkmanA section of the N25 in East Cork is still waiting for funding to replace an undersized culvert that caused the main road between Cork and Rosslare to be blocked by flooding for a whole day during Storm Babet two years ago.
A public meeting on flood relief efforts in East Cork this week was told by a Cork County Council roads department official that it’s the responsibility of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to fund the works as the national primary road is under its control.
Niall Healy said that after Storm Babet in October 2023 Cork County Council contacted the state agency about replacing the culvert on the section of road between Castlemartyr and Killeagh but TII responded that “they had no funding at that point in time for severe weather damage, so they weren't in a position to fund it.”
He said that replacing the culvert with a bigger one would cost roughly €3 to 4 million. “We can only work on instructions from TII for that particular stretch of road. So again, we will be talking to them in the coming weeks about funding for next year. We will put in an ask, we'll try and push that as hard as we can. It's absolutely necessary.”
The council official said that during the 2023 flooding, vehicles heading east had to take a long detour via the M8 and travel as far as Fermoy and then on to Youghal or Lismore to complete their journey.
One landowner on the section of road told the public meeting of his efforts on the day to rescue people trapped in their cars by the flooding.
“The road closed from Cork to Waterford for the whole day with women, men and children sitting on the road, no Guards, no nothing. I was the individual who was out on the road pushing water back and forth with a tractor trying to get people off that road till eight or nine o'clock that night until one council man came,” he said.
Minister of State Kevin Boxer Moran told the meeting he will contact the transport minister about the issue.
Asked whether funding for the work would be forthcoming next year, Sean O’Neill of TII told the Irish Independent that “we do not have the allocations for 2026 confirmed yet with the Department of Transport.”