No funding to fix ‘horrendous’ Laois road causing damage to vehicles
No quick fix for ‘desperate’ road in Ballyfin
Laois County Council has said that there is no funding to repair a ‘horrendous’ road that has allegedly caused damages to passing vehicles.
Fianna Fáíl Councillors Cllr Seamus McDonald and Cllr Paddy Bracken tabled a joint motion to Laois County Council, requesting urgent road repairs to the L-21102 in Cloonagh, Ballyfin.
The councillors argued that a particularly poor section of this road is causing the undercarriage of vehicles to drag, requesting urgent road repairs.
Laois County Council’s Roads Office acknowledged that the road is in poor condition, yet revealed that there is no funding available to carry out such works.
“Sections of this roadway, the L-21102, are in bad condition,” the Council said.
“Routine maintenance works will be carried out. The district office does not have a budget for any full restoration improvement works. This road is not included in the 2026 Road Improvement programme. This road can be considered for the 2027 roads programme,” the reply finished.
Cllr McDonald thanked the office for their reply, yet was unhappy with the response.
“The road is impassable at the moment. I was up there myself recently, it’s in a terrible state. There were filling repairs carried out recently and it's nearly as bad again. I'm going to propose that the road is included in the 2027 Roads Improvement Programme,” Cllr McDonald said.
This motion was supported by Cllr Bracken, who argued that the road cannot wait until 2027 to be addressed.
Senior Executive Engineer with Laois County Council, Mr Rory O’Callaghan, asked if Cllr Bracken wished to swap this road for another road currently on the 2026 Roads Improvement Programme.
“No, this needs to be done, Cllr McDonald is right,” Cllr Bracken said.
“There’s a section of it, I don’t know it in metres, but a car at the moment would be dragging the base of the car along, the road is gone that bad,” he said.
Mr O’Callaghan replied that he drove that road himself, and found that ‘it wasn’t that bad’.
“I could hear the other side of the car tipping off areas,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
Cllr Bracken argued that the road is in a ‘desperate state’, stating that the whole road must be done, but that the particularly bad section must be prioritised.
“In this day and age…there’s a lot of traffic on that road as well,” Cllr Bracken said.
Cllr McDonald highlighted that there is a 94 year old farmer living on this road, who cannot go out anymore as the road is so poor.
“It’s desperate. We could describe it all day but something needs to be done with it. That particular section is horrendous. Is there no funding at all?” Cllr Bracken questioned.
The meeting heard that funding was applied for, yet not granted.
“Something should be done so people can get through and not be injured,” Cllr McDonald finished.
This motion was tabled at the June sitting of Laois County Council’s Borris-in-Ossory / Mountmellick Municipal District.