Kerry County Council told to give 'Mayo a call' for roads advice
Mayo County Council outstrips its Kerry counterparts when it comes to load road improvement works.
There was consternation in the Kingdom when it was revealed that Kerry County Council lags way behind its Mayo counterpart when it comes to delivering local road improvements.
Mayo County Council spent €4.3 million over the past four years on upgrading 242 roads under Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) funding.
The average costs per road was €17,656.
In comparison, 73 roads were completed in Kerry for €4.9 million, at an average cost of €67,256.
Kerry TD Bernard Griffin has called for an investigation into the disparities.
"Unless the roads in Mayo are way shorter and narrower than those in Kerry, there seems to be something wrong.
"Will Minister Humphreys look at the massive variation between the number of roads that are resurfaced by local authorities for the same money?
"It does not add up that the average cost per road in Mayo is approximately €17,000 and that it is almost four times that amount in Kerry and other counties.
"Other counties have done very well in displaying efficiency, so there must be something wrong. I wonder if every local authority is getting value for money.
"Mayo is performing extremely well compared with Kerry. We need to bear in mind that we have over 600 roads waiting for improvement.
"If Kerry County Council is only doing only 73 roads in four years for €4.9 million, there is something radically wrong.
"The departmental officials need to talk to the people in Kerry County Council and bring them on a fact-finding mission to Mayo because these roads need to be improved."
Minister Heather Humphreys was at a loss to explain the variation.
"I do not understand why Kerry cannot do as many roads as Mayo.
"I suggest that the officials in Kerry County Council give their counterparts in Mayo a call because it seems to me that they cannot do as many roads.” "I was speaking with a county manager at one stage. That person referred to using recycled tar - I am referring to the scrapings that come off the roads - to bring down the cost, and this could be used in the context of the LIS.
"I do not know if that is being done by any of the local authorities, but we should be looking at those types of ideas because we might get more lanes completed."
