Road Network
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-27
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I understand the challenging situation in which everyone in the Deputy's county finds themselves and, indeed, the challenge that presents for its Deputies as public representatives as well to seek to address and have this remedied. The reply that I have given on behalf of the Department of Transport and the Minister outlines the funding that was provided this year, namely, €23 million to Wexford County Council and €15 million to Wicklow County Council, which was up on the previous year. It is clear from the response provided to me that that funding was meant to address ongoing work. The figures that the Deputy has indicated to me in terms of the additional ask are very similar in scale to the level of funding provided to both counties this year for roads generally, so it is a very significant ask. Obviously, it reflects very significant damage.
The response from the Department also outlines that it is expected of local authorities that they hold a certain amount of the funds they receive in contingency for exceptional cases. I do not know how much that is in any particular county. I would imagine it is quite small and is nowhere near the scale of what is being discussed here, certainly not what the Deputy has outlined. The request to the Department is similar in scale to what the ongoing level of investment would be in terms of maintenance and development of roads, so it is very significant and would certainly speak to being a lot more than what could be managed within any ongoing contingency fund. There have been a number of instances over the last number of years of damage in both counties as a result of floods.
It is important that that the request to the Department from both local authorities in terms of the remediation be assessed. The Department of Transport has said in this response that it is under consideration. It is important that clarity be brought to that. The Deputy has expressed the frustration felt about how that has not happened yet. I will relay that back fairly clearly to the Department and ask it to engage further with both local authorities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-27