Galway’s roads go down the drain

Date Published: 11-Jan-2012

LARGE sections of county roads in Galway are fast approaching the impassable category and pose a real danger to users, the county’s farm leader has warned this week.

Galway IFA chairman Michael Flynn told the Connacht Tribune that the patience of many rural dwellers had now reached breaking point given the condition of their local roads.

“These are people that pay their car tax, and other taxes, the same as everyone else and they are now finding that they cannot drive their cars in their own locality.

“The scale of road deterioration over recent years has been quite staggering. We have been told that some roads won’t be due for maintenance for another 40 years – what value are these people getting for their road tax?” asked Michael Flynn.

He said that he had received feedback from all parts of the county over the condition of roads with many IFA representative conveying very real fears over road safety issues.

“What’s happening in a lot of cases, especially after the last few bad winters, is that road surfaces and foundations are just breaking up leaving large craters and areas of subsidence.

“It is just not good enough to say anymore that the funding isn’t there to maintain such roads. We are talking about a real road safety issue – rural people who pay the same rate of road tax as everyone else, are entitled to expect better,” said Michael Flynn.

He also said that there were a whole litany of complaints as regards motorists whose vehicles were damaged on the roads ranging from damaged tyres to broken suspensions.

Galway County Manager, Martina Moloney, told The Connacht Tribune that while she understood completely the frustrations of road users in many parts of the county, the Council had to work within greatly reduced resources.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.