Independent Cllr Michael Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig has today welcomed the reestablishment of the Local Improvement Scheme, but is critical of the time frame communities are given to complete the applications.
He also says that as the LIS was scrapped for six years, some roads in Donegal have fallen into a state of disrepair akin to a third world country. Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig says that it will now end up hitting the taxpayer’s pocket much harder than it would if simple maintenance works were completed in the first instance.
The LIS provides funds to repair non-County Council roads and today it has been announced that applications will open on Donegal County Council’s website.
This afternoon Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig and local activist Liam Whyte met with Bobby and Kirsty Given in Ardara who are having great difficulty accessing the road by their house due to the state of disrepair.
They estimate the road in Loughros Point will cost anywhere between €30,000 and €40,000 to repair.
Speaking to Donegal Daily, he said; “It is welcome news, but the timeframe for this is unacceptable to get applications together for communities and Council staff. The State is not giving ample time and that’s not good enough.
“It’s vitally important that there’s a significant amount of money that comes with this. The state should have brought this in years ago, what they’ve done is double the cost for the taxpayers.
“There are roads that are now totally impassable, another example would be some of the roads on Cruit Island. If the State had never got rid of the scheme it wouldn’t have the same cost on the taxpayer.
“When the State took that away in 2011, they punished those that were already being punished through austerity and people could not afford to maintain the roads. Not everyone is working and not everyone can afford the repairs.
“Some of the roads have fallen into huge disrepair, to a third world level, but here we are now and we’re not sure how much money is being allocated. It could double the cost if not more, some of these roads will have to be brand new instead of just maintained.”
“I’m also calling for criteria to be announced – we haven’t seen anything yet.”
Liam Whyte poses the question; “With this time frame, are they deliberately reducing the time so as there are not as many communities organised, and therefore not as many applications?”
Whyte told Donegal Daily that he is reiterating Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig’s call for an extension on the LIS applications to allow communities to organise an application.
Application forms can be found here:
http://www.donegalcoco.ie/services/roadsservice/localimprovementschemes/
