Grants of €20.2 million for regional and county roads have been announced for Donegal for the year 2017.
Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher has welcomed the grants by Minister Shane Ross this afternoon.
However, he said they fall short for what is needed.
The grants cover all county and regional roads improvements and maintenance right throughout Donegal as well as cover bridge restoration and safety improvement measures in the county.
Deputy Gallagher said “Whilst I welcome today’s announcement it falls far short of our expectation and basic need in order to maintain the county’s roads network and infrastructure. The grants today show no real terms increase on 2016 announcement and from that perspective it is disappointing and needs to be re looked at by the Government.
“In addition I am extremely disappointed the Government has failed to provide funding for Local Improvement Schemes which are desperately needed in rural Ireland and especially in Donegal – again this year the Government has failed to provide funding for non-county and access roads in today’s budget announcement.”
He added that additional resources must be obtained for Donegal roads in order to maintain the vast road network we have within the county
“We have a backdrop of under investment on our roads network between 2011 and present – there we need to accelerate investment and therefore I request the Department to make an additional announcement of resources for Donegal in the course of 2017 from internal savings,” he said.
Meanwhile local county councillor Micheal Mac Giolla Easbuig said he was disappointed that Minister Ross would not agree to meet him some weeks ago to discuss Local Improvement Schemes.
