O'Malley calls for water tables to be opened

Independent councillor Johno O'Malley has called for an immediate programme to open water tables and to clean culverts in areas, to prevent further deterioration for roads in the county. Speaking at this month's Roads and Transport Strategic Policy Committee (SPC ) meeting, Cllr O'Malley said: "We have roads that have been destroyed and will have more damage done again this year, because they are not on the programme and the weather has done a lot of damage to them. But there is a thing that is not happening that should be happening, the water tables are not being opened at all - roads that are flooded are just closed off completely and people are just chancing through them; and it is because, in some places, there are pipes and in others, there are none, or in some, there are pipes and they are buried and not working. I think a programme should be put in place immediately, that any place that needs water tables opened and drained, it should be done, because otherwise, the roads will decay all together, because you know it is the water that does the real damage." Head of Roads for Mayo County Council, Paul Dolan, told Cllr O'Malley: "There is a drainage grant of €1.33 million so each municipal district has drainage money, that is where they should be spending the drainage money, in opening the likes of the water tables and improving drains and culvert access. Each district has a drainage allocation, that is where it should be."