Louth Council 'stretched to its limit' as Govt accused of ignoring emergency funding application
Local representatives have expressed their concerns as Louth County Council await a decision on over €3.5m in funding.
The Government have been accused of passing the buck on emergency funding for Louth County Council in what has been described as a “dire situation” by a local TD.
It comes after the local authority put in an application in excess of €3.5 million for emergency funding in the wake of Storm Chandra earlier this year.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Antóin Watters told the Dundalk Democrat if Louth County Council do not receive the funding it would reduce its ability to carry out works for the remainder of the year.
“It’s kind of scuppering us for the rest of the year, it’s reducing what Louth County Council can do for the rest of the year because they had put out a lot of money to do the temporary drainage works at the start of the year following the flood event to keep things right.
“There was great works done by the Council staff and external contractors but a lot of money has been spent and that’s why this emergency funding is so important because after the roadworks programme happens in the next number of months we’re going to be restricted with what money’s left to do general work around the council,” he said.
Cllr Watters’ comments come after his party colleague, Louth TD Joanna Byrne raised the issue with Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Deputy Byrne said she was taken by surprise to receive a letter from the Director of Services for Operations in Louth County Council requesting that she raise the issue.
The Sinn Fein TD told the Taoiseach that “the scale of the damage across the county is significant in both urban and rural areas, with the council recording 69 road closures and 81 road locations, with an estimated overall reinstatement requirement of €3.61 million”.
“In all my years dealing with Louth County Council, it has always gone through the proper channels, but for the council to call on TDs and Senators to publicise the need for additional Government funding highlights the dire situation,” she said.
In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the problem as a “general issue” and “not one that just applies to County Louth”.
“What the Minister for public expenditure would say is that all county councils will have received funding that involved a provision for emergencies. That said, submissions have been made from county councils across the country, particularly those that were more affected than others by Storm Chandra. The Government is giving consideration to that,” he said.
Labour TD for Louth Ged Nash accused the Government of passing the buck and “sticking their fingers in their ears” towards the problem.
Deputy Nash said the Council’s resources have been “stretched to the limit to address these issues as they emerged in the weeks and months since the storm hit, back in January.”
“The local authority, quite rightly in my view, made an application for additional funding to government, to take account of the overwhelming demand on its road surfacing resources and I wanted to know if that application would be successful.”
The Labour TD said after engaging with Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, he was left with the impression that the “application is being ignored and that the local authority is being left holding the bag and footing the bill for the extra work, out of its own resources.”
“Minister Darragh O’Brien, pointed out that local authorities, including Louth County Council did get an increased allocation for its roads budget, and that is welcome. However, that additional allocation was to cover for work already planned in the normal course of events and did not take account of the long-term impact of Storm Chandra.
“It seems, as far as the Minister is concerned, that is just too bad for Louth County Council who now must fund all this additional work out of their existing allocation.”
“The Minister’s response suggests the opposite is true and government are sticking their fingers in their ears and shutting their eyes to the problem and leaving local authorities swinging in storm-force winds,” he said.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.