Time runs out on Galway storm repairs cash

Some of the money allocated to Galway County Council for the repair of coastal damage resulting from the high tides and storms earlier this year may be lost to the county because it could not be spent in 2014.

Senior County Council engineer, Evan Molloy told Connemara County Councillors – most of the serious damage occurred in Connemara – that he could not be sure that unspent portions of the €9m emergency repair fund could be carried over into 2015.

At a meeting of the Connemara Municipal Authority in Carna this week, he explained that after the emergency repair fund was sanctioned in Dublin at the end of February, the Council staff were left with tight timescales to do the planning and preparatory work which was needed to deal with the widespread damage.

“You just cannot go and pour in tons of concrete without following the regulations and making the plans,” Mr Molloy said.

Only a little over a third of the €9m emergency repair fund has so far been paid out by Galway County Council for works done.  Mr Molloy said millions more was committed in contracts.

While Councillor Seán Ó Tuairisg asked if the Council management was confident that money for contracts entered into would be forthcoming, no concerns were expressed in regards to that.

However, there was a part of the €9m which was not allocated by the end of the financial accounting year, which is December 5, in this case.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Tribune