There were heated discussions at this morning’s meeting of Donegal County Council’s Roads and Transportation Committee over the cost of works being carried out under the Public Lights and Minor Infrastructure Fund.
Under the scheme, each elected member is allocated €7,000 euro.
Councillor Patrick McGowan, backed by Councillor Michael Naughton, argued that better value for money could be achieved if councillors had greater power to outsource smaller projects to local contractors.
The debate arose following a quote of €20,000 euro for traffic ramps. Councillor Naughton said a local contractor told him the work could have been completed for a fraction of that cost.
However, Fergal Doherty, Area Manager, Roads and Transportation in Donegal County Council said administrative and tendering requirements must be followed to ensure value for money and compliance with procurement rules.
The cost of this is built into the final quotation.
Councillor McGowan suggested a once-off panel of local contractors could be created for smaller jobs.
While Mr Doherty said rising prices will make that difficult and the fact that there there have been recent contractor withdrawals for bitmac projects is evidence of this.
Ultimately, it was decided that it would be revisited at the next meeting, with a view to looking at the logistics in the interim.
