West Mayo councillors angered at absence of extra funding for Murrisk road

No extra funding will be made available to upgrade a road in west Mayo which is in a 'diabolical state' following the laying of a water pipeline

Local councillors in the Westport area were informed that there was no extra funding to upgrade the road to Murrisk and it will only be funded by whatever money is available under the council's roadworks programme.

The R335 road has been left in dangerous condition due to the laying of pipes for the Murrisk Water Scheme but local councillors were informed that there was non funding in the contract for the pipeline to upgrade the road.

Heather Gibbons, Senior Engineer with Mayo County Council confirmed to the monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District that any funding for the road will have to come from the council's roadworks programme.

“That road will have to be allocated over our three year programme in the roadworks programme. That is where we will get the funding over the next three years to maintain the road out to Murrisk and beyond. It will have to be done in piecemeal stages and we will only be able to do what our budget allows us to do,” she told the councillors.

The issue was raised by Westport councillor Brendan Mulroy who told the meeting that the state of the road was getting worse on a daily basis. He also commented that the road would be upgraded if the Greenway was to run alongside it from Belclare to Murrisk.

“In all fairness it is in a diabolical state and as far as I can see there is no funding in place for that roadway to be done up or reinstated to any degree of safety.

“If it continued along the road [with the greenway] to Louisburgh and if the agreement was in place I am sure the road would be done at this stage. The road is an absolute total and utter disgrace.

“Is there funding in place from any department to upgrade the road from Westport to Louisburgh because anyone who has travelled it knows it is an absolute death trap,” he said.

He was supported by Louisburgh-based councillor Chris Maxwell who called for 'commonsense' and for the road to be upgraded and for the greenway to run alongside it to Louisburgh.

“Louisburgh was christened God's pocket and that highway back to heaven needs divine intervention of money to sort it out. We have Croagh Patrick and the finest of beaches and that road is so important from a tourism and community point of view.

“We have to try and find more funding from the central government. We have to look elsewhere to see if we can get a divine load of money to be injected into that road and bring it up to a standard similar to the road between Newpprt and westport. That is what we need,” he said.

Ms Gibbons replied that the road to Louisburgh will not be upgraded to the same standard as the Westport to Newport road as it is a regional road while the other is a national road.

Westport councillor Peter Flynn said that a lot of promises were made during the local elections about upgrading the road to Louisburgh but felt it would be a long and painful process.

“The reality of that road being upgraded any time soon given the state of Mayo County Councils finances is zero and we would be doing well to get it back to the standard it was pre the laying of the pipeline,” he said.

Achill councillor Paul McNamara told the meeting that he has been calling for an upgrade of the R319 road to Achill for the last ten years and he does not want funding going to a different road.

“There is no way I would be in favour of our roads suffering in order to upgrade the road from Westport to Louisburgh. There should be a separate allocation,” he said.

Ms Gibbon reassured him that funding for Westport roads will not be taken from an allocation for other regions. She added that 'if you can find the money I can spend it no problem'.