Laois County Council requests extra funding to deal with flood damage

Extra funding is needed for roads with one ‘washed away’ by torrential rain, a Councillor has said.

Independent Cllr Aisling Moran made the call for additional resources while asking in a motion for work on a damaged road.  

She asked “that Laois County Council repair the road surface at Ballintlea (Pennyfeathers) as the road has gone beyond pothole repairs”.

In response, Senior Executive Engineer, Tom Drennan said “Laois County Council has carried out interim repairs on this road since the recent storm and flood events and will continue to monitor its conditions over the interim. Laois County Council has sought for additional funding from the Department of Transport in order to support Laois County Council efforts to address roads damaged by recent flood events and is awaiting the outcome of this.” 

Cllr Moran said “the road is in a bad way. You can’t just fix that now with pothole repairs it is gone beyond that. The road is used and it needs to be done”. 

Mr Drennan said he was aware of the road. He said there was an open drainage ditch at the bottom of the hill which had been “overwhelmed” and that “washed the road away” due to the level of rainfall. 

He said the Council was “hoping to get some additional funding on the back of what is going on with the recent weather” and a request had been made by a senior council engineer. 

Fine Gael Cllr Vivienne Phelan said she was expecting an announcement from the government. “I think that is going to be in the next four to six weeks,” she said.  

Fianna Fail Cllr Paschal McEvoy, who seconded the motion, said additional funding has to be made available.