Calls grow to prioritise roads near schools as Meath winter gritting funding ‘fully utilised’
Calls grow to prioritise gritting of roads near schools this winter, however Meath County Council has confirmed that funding for winter salting is “fully utilised”.
This means many local roads near schools cannot be added to this year’s gritting schedule.
The announcement followed a motion submitted by Sinn Féin Councillor Maria White, calling for the prioritisation of school roads in the winter gritting program.
“Health and safety in schools are important,” Cllr White told members.
“Anyone dropping their kids off at school every day will understand the volume of traffic. It’s particularly bad for schools that are not on the gritting schedule."
"Every councillor has received emails from schools asking to be added to the list. I don’t think they should have to ask—we have to make that a priority.”
Cllr White, who is also a school principal added: “As much as we want to encourage active travel, the reality is that we live in a county that can become very cold in winter, and conditions might not be safe for young children walking or cycling to school.”
Supporting the motion, Councillor Paddy Meade said: “There are many roads in the county that require gritting. The last time we added roads to our gritting program was in 2023. For the past two years, we have not added anything. This is a serious topic—we need to discuss it now, not in the middle of winter.”
Meanwhile, Councillor Stephen McKee said all primary schools should be included to “ensure safety for smaller children.”
Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District, Sharon Tolan, acknowledged the challenge of budget, manpower, and resources.
“There’s a long list of things we need to be doing, and this is certainly one of them,” she said.
“Gritting near schools is essential to get our children to school safely for their education and wellbeing. It’s important that all children are safe year-round.”
In its written response, Meath County Council said it salts 795km of roads across 11 routes whenever icy conditions are predicted, covering all National Primary and Secondary roads, as well as Regional Routes—about 22pc of the county’s total road network.
Major motorways, including the M1, M2, M3, and M4, are treated by private contractors fully funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
They said funding for non-national roads comes from the council’s own resources, which are currently fully used. So adding new routes, such as local roads near some schools, would require removing existing routes.
The council also highlighted that salting routes are prioritised based on road classification, traffic volumes, historic weather data, population centres, business locations, and the national public transport network.
“There are approximately 138 schools in County Meath. Some are on National, Regional, and urban roads already included in the winter gritting routes, but many are on local roads that are not salted,” the council said.
“The addition of these local roads to the Winter Maintenance Service would not be possible within current resources.”
A new winter service plan for 2025/2026 will be presented to the Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) for approval before the season begins.