Councillors say 'stunt was pulled' over funding for local roads in Mayo

A North Mayo councillor has complained that Mayo has received insufficient funding under the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) to repair minor roads in the county.

Fine Gael Cllr John O'Hara said he is "ashamed that the five TDs in Mayo are not delivering for the county". 

“We have five TDs up there in Dáil Éireann but they are not delivering,” Cllr O'Hara told last week's meeting of Mayo County Council.

He added that nothing has been done on many local roads.

“You cannot bring visitors on them. There are pot-holes half a foot deep. 

"We get €27,000 for LIS in Mayo. You wouldn’t do up a house up with that. 

"Then we are told there will be no planning given because the roads are so bad."

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne added: “They gave extra money last year but then it emerged it was to be used over two years. I support you 100%. Maybe now it is time we looked to have a meeting with the TDs because there is a number of matters we need to discuss and funding is a huge problem. There doesn’t seem to be any funding issues in counties such as Kerry.” 

Cllr Gerry Coyle said "a stunt was pulled" last year when €75,000 was announced but the council could only spend €45,000 of it and now there is just €27,000 left for this year. Cllr Coyle said what happened was "wrong".

The council's Director of Services Tom Gilligan said it takes time to go out and tender for roadworks and then the price may change. 

"You can’t just go on and do the next road, there is a process," Mr Gilligan added.