Mayo’s 2009 road allocations revealed

Mayo allocated €11m from NRA


No capital projects to start this year, as almost €6m goes on work already completed

Anton McNulty

THE prospect of a major road project beginning in Mayo in the near future remains bleak after the National Roads Authority (NRA) allocated just €11.6 million to the county – 0.8 per cent of its total budget.
No major schemes are set to start in Mayo over the next year and of the 2009 budget less than half will be spent on improving and maintaining the county’s national roads, with €6.7m to be spent on consolatory reports and on work already completed. The largest allocation for a single project in Mayo was €3.495 million for the N5 Charlestown By-Pass, which was officially opened in November 2007. A sum of €2.5 million will be spent on the N5 Westport to Bohola road to bring it to CPO stage and €750,000 has been allocated to the N26 Ballina to Bohola road.
Mr Joe Beirne, Director of Services with Mayo County Council, explained that the NRA’s overall budget had been cut by €200 million and this year’s allocation was down from €16 million in 2007. Grants for the improvement of secondary roads had fallen from €3,440,000 to €1,250,000 and maintenance grants have fallen from €1,911,939 to €1,509,048. He explained that these are the biggest cutbacks and said there would be very little activity on the ground compared to the previous year.
Cllr Michael Holmes, Chairman of the Western Roads Action Committee, told The Mayo News that the cut-backs had been much worse than he first expected and said he would bet his ‘bottom dollar’ that a new project will not start in Mayo in the next couple of years.
He slammed the decision to allocate €2.5 million for the Westport to Bohola road – which he predicted would never come to completion – saying that the money would be better spent making the existing roads safer.
“The condition of some of the roads is terrible and they have deteriorated over the years because of the amount of heavy traffic from construction. The money we have should be ring-fenced and given to Mayo County Council and a common sense approach taken to where the money is allocated. Last year the NRA spent €700,000 on a stretch of road in Tiernaur when it should have been given to the Council to let them spend it where it is badly needed.
“The N26 is not going to happen for a long time and I honestly think I will not see the N5 completed. The current road from Castlebar to Bohola is adequate for the amount of traffic using it and they don’t need to spend €2.5 million on planning and designing a new road. It would be lovely if we had it when the country was awash with money but in the present climate it is of no benefit to the people of Mayo,” he said.
Cllr Holmes welcomed the allocation of €100,000 for pavement works in Mulranny village, but was told by the NRA to expect similar budgets in the coming years. In comparison to Mayo, the NRA allocated €115 million to Galway County Council and Cllr Holmes said this was because Galway had the political clout. He laid the blame for Mayo’s problems squarely at the door of Mayo’s Dáil representatives.
“I can understand that the country is in dire straits and the need for cut-backs but what has annoyed me – and I said it during the good times – is that if we could not get anything then what chance have we now. I have been proven right and the reason for it is the lack of representation at cabinet level, it is as simple as that. Galway has the power and clout around the cabinet table and that is why they get €140 million more than Mayo.”