'We are going nowhere with this CIS list under it's current level of funding' - Cllr Paddy O'Rourke

Leitrim councillor Paddy O'Rourke said he has carried out research in adjoining counties and discovered that while they are awarded around the same CIS funding, "they don't have the same dependency on these cul-de-sac roads"

He has asked council to request a meeting with the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien TD, to seek a significant increase in the CIS funding provided for the repair and maintenance of public, cul-de-sac roads.

He stated: "With increasing costs, the practically static grant allocation, allows a handful of such roads to be maintained each year. Many of these roads will soon be so deteriorated that it will require multiples of the current estimates to bring them back into repair. Many families living on such roads are experiencing grave financial hardship maintaining vehicles (which are a necessity) due to traversing inferior road surfaces."

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Cllr O'Rourke went on to say that residents have received letters from the roads office, "declaring that their LIS applications are invalid because part of their road is public yet these roads are not being maintained."

He said many people living on these roads need "two vehicles and when you are travelling on a bad road five or six times a day and going to the NCT centre to get that vehicle approved, you can be looking at anything up to €1000." 

Cllr O'Rourke stated: "We are going nowhere with this CIS list under it's current level of funding. There are families where their finances are being ruined due to the fact that they live in these places."

Cllr Gary Prior supported the motion and said the LIS was "equally important".