Shock as Donegal omitted from major roads funding programme


The Government has been heavily criticised after revelations that none of the extra €18m to help repair storm damaged roads is going to be allocated to Donegal.
Additional funding is to be made to local authorities under a new ‘Special Maintenance Grant’ to assist in the repair of regional and local roads damaged by severe weather events.
Minister Shane Ross says that €15m is to be shared between local authorities by years end while an additional €3m is being provided to the TII.
However Donegal County Council is not included on the list of allocations.
In a statement today, Donegal Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher expressed his shock over the decision to omit the county from the announcement:
Today’s announcement is on the pretext of ongoing road maintenance and road network upkeep , surely the Minister and Government are not under the illusion that there are no such issues in Donegal. But, not for the first time has this Government forgotten about Donegal when it comes to allocating state funding . Failing to allocate one single cent in funding to Donegal is unprecedented and smacks of an anti Donegal approach in allocating funding by Minister Ross , it is self evident further funding is urgently required for our roads stated Pat the Cope.
It is time this Government treated Donegal as an equal amongst the other counties rather than the piecemeal approach they have adopted towards us as a county. I am calling on Minister to reconsider his earlier blunder and make a specific allocation for Donegal without further delay – we in Donegal require nothing more or less than our fair share of funding but that is something this Government has failed to do concluded Pat the Cope

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