Irish Water Give Us Back Our Roads Money – Healy
In the wake of the recent flooding, Deputy Seamus Healy has called on the government to re-allocate to County Councils, the €430M from the road tax monies given to Irish Water.
This money is urgently needed to re-build and repair county roads across County Tipperary and the Country which have been destroyed by floods.
These roads were already in a very bad condition due to cutbacks in road monies by the Government.
Deputy Healy also called for the upgrading of the National Primary N24 to be added to the Roads Capital Programme announced last year. This road is a vital economic and social lifeline across Tipperary and links the Midwest to the South East. This road was impassable in a number of areas during the recent flooding. Despite demands for upgrading including the provision of the Tipperary Town By-pass and Carrick on Suir By-pass this work has been excluded from the Government’s Road Programme 2015-2016. It must be included immediately.
There must also be a countywide assessment of the flooding and the responses to it including availability of back up pumps and road and gully maintenance.
Deputy Healy praised the work of the Council workers, Civil Defence, Gardaí, Red Cross, Army, Carrick River Rescue and volunteers who did Trojan work during the flooding.
Council staffing has been seriously depleted by the government moratorium and additional staffing is urgently needed to maintain roads, gullies, inlets and dykes.
