‘It’s an anti-community involvement scheme’ – Wexford councillor says public should not have to pay for road works in their area

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The merits of a scheme which allows communities to carry out road maintenance in their local area has been debated at the September of Wexford County Council (WCC) with one councillor claiming it is unfair to ask the public to pay for repairs.

The community involvement scheme (CIS) is a collaborative project between WCC and rural communities which sees works carried out on roads not included in the council’s scheduled programme.

Citing a road in Camaross which has been reduced to “nothing more than a cow path”, Councillor Jim Codd said those in the area had been advised to apply for the CIS.

“The engineer was good enough to come and meet with the people there and offered them the opportunity to involve themselves in the CIS – which basically means you will get a road if you pay a percentage,” said the Aontú councillor. “It’s an anti-community involvement scheme. Some people are entitled to roads and others aren’t. It’s a wonder our engineers aren’t lynched on the roadside; people have already paid their taxes and contributions, then we say you must pay more on top of that.”

“There’s roads in rural areas like Kiltealy and Marshalstown which would never have roads done without CIS,” he said. “I’m a big supporter of it and would like to see it extended to more villages and include footpaths.”

Responding to Cllr Codd’s comments, director of roads Eamonn Hore said “everyone” in the county is “entitled to a road” and that the CIS was simply an option available to communities.

“Nobody has to take it up, it’s a government scheme, you might not agree with it but it’s there for communities to avail of,” he said. “It is being used and the allocation is set to increase to €700,000 over the next two years.”

Separately, Cllr Codd asked that WCC contact ESB to repair telephone lines in Scar and Foulksmills which have been “hanging from the poles for more than year”.

“The first gust of wind will leave the area without power, it’s a common sight in the county. We need to write to ESB and ask it to repair these lines rapidly. People in rural Ireland are sick of being without power for long periods.”

“If you tell the district engineer where the poles are we will get onto the ESB straight away,” replied Mr Hore.