Road Network
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-04
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State for his reply but the response will be no consolation to the people of Cavan. Inflation has eroded the value of road funding and that has resulted in fewer kilometres of road being maintained. In 2022 and 2023, the price of bitumen increased by 62%. That is not being allowed for in the allocations of money from the Department.
Inflation is not an unforeseen crisis. It has been a consistent pressure for years, yet funding levels have not been adjusted in a way that protects the actual output on the ground. How does the Department plan to address the €95 million deficit in the years between 2008 and 2023? A decade and a half of underinvestment cannot be solved with minor annual uplifts. We are simply not going to see the roads in Cavan and Monaghan improve. That is the truth.
We need a commitment to restore the number of kilometres maintained annually to pre-deficit levels, as well as an increase in funding that matches inflation and meets the demands of our road network, which now supports nearly 3 million vehicles. This additional traffic also has to be taken into account but I do not think it has been.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:25+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-04