THE two constituency counties of Rural Affairs Minister Heather Humphreys received more than fifteen per cent of a nearly €16 million pot of funding that was made available for local roads.
As part of the local improvement scheme (LIS) announced last week, County Cavan hoovered up €1.4 million – or almost nine per cent of the total pot – well ahead of far bigger counties including Galway, Mayo, and Kerry.
County Monaghan, which is one of the smallest local authority areas in Ireland, also fared extremely well in the latest funding round, getting €1.04 million, one of only five counties to be in receipt of a seven-figure sum.
However, the Department of Rural and Community Development said any link between Ms Heather Humphreys and the generous allocations to her constituency counties of Cavan and Monaghan was coincidental.
They said each local authority had received an allocation based on seventy per cent of what they themselves had stated they could deliver by the end of this year.
The department said the second round of funding had been possible due to other savings made and this meant the money had to be spent before 2023 was over.
A spokeswoman said: “Any queries as to why some local authorities requested less funding than others should be directed to those individual local authorities directly.”
One local authority, Kildare County Council, received no funding whatsoever as it made no application under the latest tranche of funding available from the scheme.
Others received very small allocations with €194,321 given to Westmeath County Council, €118,000 awarded to Louth County Council, and just €70,000 made available to Roscommon County Council.
The largest allocation was made to Cork which received €1.7 million in the latest funding round.
Cavan, which is nearly four times smaller than Cork, was next on the list with the €1.4 million it was awarded.
There were three other counties that got at least €1 million, Tipperary with €1.12 million, Donegal with €1.05 million, and Monaghan, which received €1.04 million.
The scheme is intended for repairs and improvements of rural roads and laneways that would not normally be maintained by local authorities.
This includes roads that give access to agricultural land, and important community amenities like graveyards, beaches, piers, and mountains.
However, roads serving houses or buildings not used by those involved in agriculture, or roads leading to commercial enterprises are not eligible under the scheme.
In announcing the grants, Minister Heather Humphrey said: “As someone who grew up on a farm myself, I know all too well what it is like when a milk truck cannot gain access to collect the milk.
“I know too how poor quality roads in rural Ireland can negatively impact on families and businesses.”
A statement from the department said: “It should be noted the total funding for LIS [the local improvement scheme] in 2023 is more than double the allocation provided last year.”
They said that since the scheme’s introduction in 2017, around €130 million had been provided for works on some 3,700 local roads and laneways around Ireland.
