New Ross roads like ‘lunar surface’ as over €140,000 is spent repairing rural laneway

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The merits of a programme which saw a rural Wexford lane repaired at a cost of over €140,000 have been debated at the September meeting of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD). Having finally received confirmation that works to repair footpaths and roads in the Parkfield housing estate are to commence in the coming weeks, Councillor Michael Sheehan turned his attention to another urban area.

“I’m delighted Parkfield is going to be done, but now that that’s confirmed could we look at works for Pondfields?” he asked. “The roads in the town are starting to fall apart. I know there are limited resources but we need to start screaming for more money for the town because in some of our estates it’s like a lunar surface.”

Cllr Sheehan’s request that the NRMD write to the Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien to highlight the issue was like preaching to the converted.

“I’ve written to all the ministers, all our Oireachtas members, and explained the situation,” said director of roads, Eamonn Hore. “We’ve put significant money into our local roads but that’s only to make the bad roads passable, it’s like throwing good money after bad.

"It’s political at this stage, the government doesn't want to give one local authority more than the other. And for the last 30 years funding has been assigned based on the length of the roads (in the county) not the condition. But hopefully in the next budget there will be some changes.”

Turning his attention to other sources of revenue, Cllr Sheehan then questioned the efficacy of the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), a programme which provides funding for works on private roads and laneways in rural areas that are not typically maintained by local authorities.

“We’re spending €143,000 on a lane in the district which serves 12 houses,” he said. “For a fraction of that we could serve over one hundred houses in Pondfields. I’m not taking away from those schemes or saying they don’t need it but in those housing estates the roads and footpaths are in an equally appalling condition.”

This argument was met with disdain by his fellow councillors.

“The LIS is for rural areas,” said Cllr Bridín Murphy, “it’s a fantastic scheme, you’d have to change the entire programme to extend it towns.”

“To say the roads in the town are as bad as those in the country is balderdash,” added Cllr Pat Barden. “Your argument is ridiculous.”