Councils turn to government as road repair bill emerges

The national cost of repairing roads following damage from ice and flooding over recent weeks could exceed 150 million euro.
Donegal County Council has already held a speciall meeting to discuss the cost, with a bill of up to €4 million anticipated, and other councils are now following suit, with growing calls on the Government to provide extra funding.
Now the Government is being urged to provide funding on a per-kilometre basis
If introduced this change would benefit counties such as Cork, Donegal, Mayo and Galway which have some of the largest road networks in the country
With engineers estimating the total repair bill to around 150 million euro – there are now fears that some of the cash may now have to be taken from road building budgets
Councils in the North and West are worried the repairs could wipeout their roads maintainance budgets for 2010 unless the Transport Minister sanctions emergency support