Seanad debates
Thursday, 9 July 2026
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Road Network
2:00 am
Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. It is our second time to discuss roads in Cavan. I appreciate his dedication to the cause.
An announcement for additional funding was made last week due to damage caused by Storm Chandra in January 2026. Monaghan received €900,000, which is a good thing. Roads were severely affected and the funding is badly needed. However, I cannot understand why Cavan got nothing. Did Cavan County Council apply for funding? The storm did not stop at the border. The same rain fell in Cavan. The same flooding happened. Roads were washed away, collapsed or were closed for days. Communities were cut off. Farmers could not get around. Businesses suffered. In my area people took long detours for a week when the R191 Cootehill to Bailieborough road was closed. People had to take long detours just to get to school.
The Department said that inspections carried out in March 26 found around 130 roads needed complete reconstruction, 440 had significant damage and several bridges could no longer be used. I believe those figures cover the entire country. My question is simple. How were the decisions made? What criteria were used? If Monaghan qualified for funding, why did Cavan not qualify? The people in Cavan deserve an explanation for this.
I have taken information from the Northern Sound website. The R212 Ballyhaise Road was flooded and closed. The R191 road from Cootehill to Bailieborough was impassible, closed for four days and flooded in five sections. The R552 road from Elteen to Ballyhaise was closed. The R191 Bailieborough to Kells road was impassible. Some 120 ESB customers in Bailieborough and 1,429 in Cootehill were without power. There were 1,083 customers without power in Shercock and 717 people without power in Virginia. Darley school, St. Michael's school and St. Aidan's school were closed.
The Government often talks about preparing for more extreme weather but this is what preparation looks like. It means making sure that local authorities have the funding they need when the damage is done. It is about prevention. Once this happens it will continue to happen. We want to try to stop that from happening again.
I have tabled Commencements for the Minister for Transport and he has never once come to the Chamber. I have yet to see him here. I am not saying he has not been here, but I have yet to see him. I am beginning to think it was something I said and I would not like to think that because the people of Cavan deserve to have their questions answered by the Minister. Can the Minister of State explain the criteria used in March to assess the roads and how that will look in respect of the case for further funding for Cavan?
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator O'Reilly. I have to take this on behalf of the Minister for Transport. I believe he was taking business matters in the Seanad during the week.
I assure the Senator that the Government is strongly committed to protecting our existing road network. This is demonstrated through the Department of Transport's provision of regular grant funding to eligible local authorities. Most recently, it was demonstrated through the provision of an exceptional funding response to the damage caused by Storm Chandra in several counties. Local authorities are responsible by statute for the maintenance and improvement of regional and local roads in their respective areas of responsibility. Any work undertaken on these roads is funded by the resources of the local authority concerned and, where eligible, this is supplemented by the Department of Transport's regional and local roads grant programme.The initial selection and prioritisation of work to be funded is a matter for the local authorities.
Regional and local roads play a critical role in supporting economic activity and community links. As a result, the regional and local roads grant programme is primarily targeted at the maintenance and renewal of our existing roads network, with the remainder invested in new roads, new bridges and road realignments. The funds available through this programme have been steadily increasing in recent years. For 2026, €718 million was made available, which will facilitate an increase of €26 million for road protection and renewal across the country.
The grant programme operated by the Department is focused on specific policy objectives. Restoration maintenance grants look to pavement sealing to protect the road surface from water damage. Restoration improvement grants look to road strengthening to lengthen the life of road pavements. The discretionary grants available allow for a range of activities, including pothole repair, edge strengthening, renewal of signs and lines, and winter maintenance. These three grant programmes account for most of the funding available.
The basis for determining the allocations for each local authority under this grant programme is related to the total number of kilometres of regional and local roads, which is held to be the most equitable method of distribution. For 2026, the allocations were notified to local authorities on 17 February. Cavan County Council was allocated over €19 million, with most of this funding directed towards protection and renewal. In addition, in previous years, Cavan County Council received funding for several pilot projects relating to road materials.
It should be noted that Exchequer funding for regional and local roads is intended to supplement realistic contributions from local authorities’ own resources. As the statutory road authorities for their areas, it is open to local authorities to prioritise own-resource investment towards regional and local roads.
Following consultation by the Department of Transport with each local authority, detailed applications were received by those authorities with severe weather road damage following Storm Chandra. No significant damage from Storm Chandra was identified and notified to the Department by Cavan County Council. Owing to the damage caused by Storm Chandra and remediation being beyond the ability of some local authorities to fund, on 1 July, the Minister for Transport announced the provision of €40 million in exceptional funding to those counties with the most significant storm damage.
Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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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.
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The response that I am giving on behalf of the Department of Transport outlines that the Department opened up for detailed applications from local authorities with severe weather road damage following the storm, and no significant damage from Storm Chandra was identified and notified to the Department by Cavan County Council. That is the response and the detail that I have. Funding of €40 million was announced to support projects across the country where remediation proved beyond the ability of some local authorities to fund. In relation to the applications received, I can only imagine that the Department would have assessed them in detail as to the scale and impact, and whether the capacity to fund the repair of that damage was beyond the councils within the other resources they had available to them.
I will ask the Department if there is further information on the nature of any notification from Cavan County Council, and whether it was the case that it did not meet the threshold of being significant in the context of considering it against other applications that were received, and also in the context of there being a certain envelope to address that issue. I am not sure if the Senator has any information on what applications may have been made by Cavan County Council or otherwise.
Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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I understand that an application was made. That is why I am asking for the detail of the criteria, and what criteria were meant to be met. I ask the Minister of State to find out if the Department could look at this issue again.
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I will inform the Department that the Senator is asking for more clarity on the nature of the application that was made and the criteria used to assess the funding allocations. I will ask the Department to revert to her on that.
Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State is an expert on Cavan roads at this stage.