Road Network Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-17 ============================================================ Robbie Gallagher (FF), Labour Panel Tá fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ar ais chuig an Teach seo ar maidin. The Minister of State is welcome back to the Chamber this morning. I thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to be here. I would like to discuss the chronic need for additional funding for local and regional roads in counties Cavan and Monaghan. This is despite the fact that last year record funding in excess of €19 million was allocated to County Cavan and over €18 million was allocated to County Monaghan. That was a €1.75 million increase on the previous year, but unfortunately, that increase has been eaten up by inflation. Therefore, fewer kilometres are being done for the allocation, which is very disappointing. The problem, as the Minister of State would know well, coming from a rural constituency himself, is that Cavan and Monaghan are totally dependent on the local roads. The local and regional roads are the arteries of the lifeblood of the local communities from a social perspective and from a business and economic perspective. Both counties are very well known for their entrepreneurial spirit. There are many small businesses located up small boreens but in order for them to get their product to market, the only show in town is the local and regional road network. Those roads are vitally important to the local communities. Unfortunately, we have not had a train service to both counties since the 1950s and we are totally dependent on the road network. That is why it is vital that the allocations are increased. As I outlined earlier, even though the allocations were increased in the last number of years, when inflation is factored in there are fewer kilometres getting done for those allocations. On top of that, there has been a level of historical underfunding going back a long number of years and that is coming home to roost now. The road network is in a terrible state in County Monaghan. I must commend the roads department of the local authority there for its work in this area. Likewise, I commend the local councillors for being very vociferous on this particular issue. They understand the chronic need for additional funding for local and regional roads. The council conducted a survey which found that the density of quality roads in Monaghan was the second worst in the country. We have more kilometres than most other counties because of our drumlins. This problem is very much unique to Monaghan and Cavan. I have discussed this issue with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on numerous occasions. I met him again yesterday and stressed the importance of an additional allocation for local and regional roads. I sincerely hope that when the allocations are announced in early January, that will be the case. I also mentioned the Ardee to Castleblaney road to the Minister when I met him. As the Minister of State knows, it is a very dangerous roadway and we are looking for funding to progress that, as well as additional funding to progress a bypass for Monaghan town which is choked with traffic every day of the week. We are hoping that both of those projects will be recognised, as well as the chronic need for additional funding for local and regional roads when the allocations are made in the first couple of weeks of January. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-12-17