County engineer and director of services for Mayo County Council Joe Beirne warned the members of the Belmullet electoral area that the funding for Local Improvement Schemes that is normally given to councillors each year may not make the cut this year.
The members of the Belmullet electoral area were welcoming the increase in funding for national primary roads at their bi-monthly meeting when Sinn Féin councillor Rose Conway-Walsh raised the condition of secondary and regional roads. “While I welcome the extra money for the national primary roads, the fact is that most of the roads in this part of the county are secondary and regional roads and a lot of people don’t understand that,” she said.
Mr Beirne warned the meeting that the LIS funding may not be there this year. “We will try to deal with the temporary repairs now for the next few weeks on the roads in the area,” he told the meeting. “But I’d be afraid that the LIS might not make the cut this year. We’ll know when the Department of Transport grants are made known to us. It was €600,000 for them last year and that was down from €2 million in previous years, it might not make the mark this year.”
