Council workers are being “severely abused” by the public over the crumbling road network in the Stranorlar Electoral Area and the failure of the Government to provide urgent funding, it was claimed this week.
Highlighting the problems at Tuesday’
s meeting of the Stranorlar E.A. committee through a series of photographs showing some of the worst affected roads in areas such as St. Johnston and Tullyowen, Labour councillor Frank McBrearty maintained: “This is something like you’d see in a Third World country. There’s too much talking and not enough action by the Government.
“Not enough money is being given to this county and these pictures are the proof of it.”
He had supplied the Director of Services, John McLaughlin, with the images. “But his hands are tied with the lack of funding he’s getting.”
Clr. McBrearty proposed that the Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan, be asked to come to her own county to see how the people were “suffering” with the condition of some of the roads. “We should be demanding that the Tanaiste address these issues. This is a never-ending story.
“The Council men on the ground are being severely abused by the public because of the Government’s failure to act.”
Citing some main Primary routes as being like a “war zone”, he declared: “It’s no wonder Local Authorities are being taken to the High Court. When somebody is killed on these roads what are we going to do about it?,” clr. McBrearty demanded.
Fianna Fail councillor, Patrick McGowan said he didn’t require pictures to tell him what the roads were like and referred to the poor condition of routes along the border. Claiming that some of the roads had been “systematically destroyed”, he said the situation had not been good enough during the boom years and was certainly not good enough now. He requested that the Engineer bring in a report on the current state of the roads.
Describing himself as “furious”, Cllr. Gerry Crawford labelled the roads a “disgrace” and declared: “These pictures do not tell the story. Some of the roads are just muck and dirt.”
Residents in some areas were, he said, “prisoners of potholes”. Added the chairman: “The roads in this area are easily the worst in the county. We should be looking for help from central Government. These people are living in a disaster zone as a result of the disappearing road network.”
Funding
Fine Gael councillor, Martin Harley, suggested they approach the Department of Agriculture for funding, citing the fact that water was finding its way onto some of the roads from farms.
“The snow did more damage than thirty years of traffic,” he agreed. “But we should make representations to the Department of Agriculture.”
Seconding Cllr. McBrearty’s proposal, Cllr. Cora Harvey said emergency funding should be made available by the Government for such roads.
Pointing out that it had taken him two days to photograph the crumbling roads in the Electoral Area, clr.
