Councillor disappointed as Leitrim’s ‘Grossly inadequate’ LIS allocation announced

Leitrim's Local Improvement Scheme allocation will not go far to solving the road issues in the county, according to Councillor Paddy O'Rourke

€434,040 has been allocated to the maintenance of roads in Leitrim under the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS).

The news came on Wednesday, as €17.55 million was announced for works on non-public rural roads and laneways nationally under the scheme.

However, the allocation to Leitrim will not go far towards solving issues on these roads in the county, according to Councillor Paddy O’Rourke.

“This could do as few as four laneways on a list of 120,” said Cllr Paddy O’Rourke, who said that there are laneways in his area that can exceed 100,000 to fix, given some in the county have not received work since the 1970s.

The scheme covers roads and laneways, such as access to homes and farms in rural areas that are not managed through the county council.

“There is no county in the country that has the same dependency on these small roads,” he said.

“€434,040 is not adequate, not by a long shot. It is very disappointing considering the pitch Leitrim County Council makes every year.”

“We might be lucky enough to get five out of it, but on a list of 124, it is not very encouraging for those on the list.”

Last year, they got almost 500,000 in additional funding, which is something they will be lobbying for again. He stresses that there is no certainty.

In the north-west, Donegal was the biggest recipient of the funding with €1,134,690, Roscommon is a distant second on €695,560, while Sligo is third on €501,740, and Longford is fourth on €380,230.