Deputy James Bannon has blasted Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey for doing a “complete U-turn” on €17 million plans announced just two months ago to upgrade roads across Westmeath.
The move will inevitably cost jobs and could cost lives as a result of further blackspot accidents, Deputy Bannon has warned, as the €17,748,365 promised for Westmeath now looks to be slashed.
“Minister Dempsey has done a complete U-turn on road safety and maintenance. Last February he unveiled a huge programme to repair Ireland's network of local and regional roads. At the time he said: ‘The programme involves projects in all areas that support employment and economic activity’.
“Yet with unemployment set to reach half a million, he has ignored the massive job-creation potential of this programme and cut €150 million from the maintenance budget for local roads. This will have a significant impact on employment and economic activity in every county in Ireland,” said Deputy Bannon.
He also warned that the cuts would have a severe impact on road safety in Westmeath. “This will also have an impact on road safety. The programme would have removed most, or all, accident blackspots through upgrade works. These rural roads see the largest number of fatal accidents, over 70 per cent in 2007 according to the Road Safety Authority. But thanks to the current Minister for Transport, some of the most dangerous stretches of road will remain in place for years to come.
“These roads are the economic arteries of local communities. Local and regional roads account for 94 per cent of the Irish network. They carry about 60 per cent of all traffic and 43 per cent of all goods traffic. They are vital to local economies.
“This budget cut smacks of a decision by an ill-informed bureaucrat suffering from tunnel vision, far removed for the realities of local economies and communities. The decision has much in common with the rest of the flawed April budget as it suppresses economic activity and does nothing to encourage or create new jobs,” he concluded.
