The issue of local roads that are not in public ownership has seen a couple in Achill being prevented from buying a house, it was claimed by local councillor Paul McNamara. The Achill based Fianna Fáil councillor told the February meeting of the West Mayo Municipal District that the couple had agreed a mortgage with the bank but the sale could not go through because of the ownership of the road.
"You can't explain to a fellow in Dublin in the bank what the situation is with a local road and the council not having responsibility for it, they don't understand it," he said, adding that there was a time when people could go in to their local bank manager who would understand the situation, but that decision making power is gone now locally.
The issue came up as the councillors once again bemoaned the fact that each councillor has only €22,000 to spend on Local Improvement Scheme (LIS ) roads. This funding is used by councillors, in conjunction with a contribution from locals, to improve private roads and right of ways that the council has not taken in charge. Cllr Michael Holmes pointed out that in the past councillors had up to €80,000 to spend on these roads per year and could get six or seven done a year and now they would be lucky to get one done.
