Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response, but he did not clarify what criteria were used. He said that no significant damage from Storm Chandra had been identified and notified to the Department. Was an application for funding made to the Department by Cavan County Council or was it just that the application was not strong enough? On the website, the Department of Transport says that it assessed the roads. Was it the council or the Department that assessed the roads?

I still do not believe that the people in Cavan understand why they were left out, because I do not understand it. They saw the roads. I saw the roads. Some were closed for days. People know that the damage was done. If the assessments suggest that Cavan does not qualify, people are entitled to know why. They are entitled to know what criteria were used and how these decisions were reached. This is not about taking funding away from any other county that is well deserving of funding. It is about why Cavan, which also suffered serious damage, was left with nothing.

I spoke about one of the main thoroughfares in the county, the road from Bailieborough to Cootehill. The road was impassable in five areas and had to be closed. In one of the places where there was a flooding incident, a sinkhole developed. It cost over €100,000 for the council to fix that, and the money had to be taken out of ordinary roads funding.

I cannot understand this. These roads do not fix themselves. The money has to come from somewhere and, usually, it comes from future road improvement funding. I believe we were badly treated.