It’s back to the drawing board on roads cash

A call has gone out for a full review as to how roads funding is allocated to different parts of the county should be carried out.

The problem has been exacerbated since the county split into five municipal council areas in a reconstitution of local government after the last election.

That has seen the Athenry-Oranmore area get the smallest funding allocation – because it has the least amount of regional roads compared to the other areas.

Athenry-Oranmore receives less than ten per cent of the total roads allocation, but local councillors argue that their roads are busier than in any of the other five areas.

Recently there was uproar when it was suggested that €40,000 be taken from Tuam’s roads budget and similar amounts from the Ballinasloe, Loughrea and Connemara areas to bolster road funding in the Athenry-Oranmore area.

It came up for discussion at the recent Tuam Municipal Council and members spoke against such a move as they did not want to relinquish any of their own funding.

However, Tuam area councillor Shaun Cunniffe said that he was now open to the idea of a review of the mechanism by which funding is allocated to the different – this could result in a reduced allocation for his own municipal district.

At the moment the allocation is based on kilometre of roads in each of the five districts which is why the Athenry-Oranmore area fares out so poorly.

But Cllr Cunniffe said that he was open to a complete review of this process – this is a view that will anger many of his colleagues on the Tuam Municipal Council.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.