Carlow to receive €2.9m for Storm Chandra road repairs
Road damage near Ballinrush Hill Myshall
CARLOW COUNTY Council is to receive an additional €2.79 million in Department of Transport funding to fix the damage caused to roads in the county by Storm Chandra.
The storm, which hit Ireland on 26 and 27 January, caused substantial damage to regional and local roads, particularly in the south of the county, where there were instances of tarmac cracking and splitting open due to the saturation of the ground.
In total, €40 million was announced for local authorities across the country.
The funding comes as part of the national Regional and Local Roads Grant worth €728 million, which was allocated to eligible local authorities in February to facilitate the maintenance and improvement of over 5,000km of regional and local roads.
Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow/Kilkenny Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere welcomed the additional funding and said the damaged roads are “vital” for people living in rural Ireland.
“Vital for farmers, businesses, local communities, and school transport. The damage caused huge disruption for so many people,” he said.
In February, reported that up to 30 roads in Carlow needed to be repaired at a cost of about €4 million, according to engineers in the county council.
In the Tullow municipal district, the tarmac on the L2075 road at Killalongford near Clonmore was damaged significantly, as was the tarmac on the L7020 at Ballinrush Hill between Myshall and Lismaconly.
A freedom of information request released to showed the council drew down €313,247 in government funding to cover the initial response costs in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
These costs included the hiring of plant machinery and contractors for essential work and the purchase of equipment and materials required or response and clean-up operations.
