Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey’s decision to slash Cork’s roads budget by a third is a false economy that in the long term will cost far more than it saves.

The Government decision to slash the budget for the regional & local roads programme from €607 million in 2009 to €411 million for 2010 is a false economy. They have made a conscience decision to save money on this programme in the short term despite the knowledge that it will cost the taxpayer far more in the long run. This is just the latest in a long list of bad financial management decisions from this Government.

With the largest network of regional and local roads in the country Cork County will be especially badly hit by the Minister’s decision.

In 2009 Cork County Council received over €61 million for the maintenance and improvement of local and regional roads under this programme. This will be reduced to over €42 million for 2010.

Cork City Council will see its grant fall from just under €7 million in 2009 to €4.3 million for 2010.

These cuts are being made in the aftermath of the severe weather last December and January which caused an estimated €180 million worth of damage to regional and local roads across the country. Cork County Council had requested an extra €20 million top up as well as their annual allocation to repair roads damaged by the bad weather. Instead of addressing this problem the Minister has decided that many roads will now be left in their current highly dangerous condition.

This Transport Minister is ignoring his responsibility to ensure that the nation’s roads are kept in a safe condition. He is asking local authorities like Cork County Council and Cork City Council to do the impossible to repair the roads damaged over the winter and to maintain and improve an extensive road network while slashing their funding by a third.