Joe O'Reilly urges early road funding top-up, warns Cavan
Joe O'Reilly welcomed the minister to the Chamber and congratulated the minister on their elevation while raising concerns about regional roads funding. He highlighted allocations for Cavan and Monaghan, warned that inflation and a signage programme reduce effective funding, and urged an early top-up alongside a road safety education campaign.
The speaker noted that Cavan was allocated £19 million and Monaghan £18 million this year. He described those figures as an increase in objective terms but said inflation and a road signage programme in the Cavan allocation reduce the effective spend. He urged the minister to consider an early top-up allocation, saying such a facility exists and often occurs during the year but must happen early so work can get done.
He warned that the road structure in Cavan is beginning to break down again and described a developing problem that could return the area to earlier poor conditions. He stressed that significant progress has been made over a number of years and expressed anxiety about letting that progress reverse, asking the minister with rural affairs and road safety responsibilities to take this issue seriously.
The speaker called for an education campaign focused on pedestrians and night-time visibility, specifically citing concerns about people wearing dark clothing when walking at night. He framed the campaign as part of the road safety brief the minister now holds and emphasised the importance of awareness alongside funding and repairs.
He opened by warmly welcoming and congratulating the minister on their proactive approach and energy in the new role, commending the skills brought to the position. After delivering his points on roads and road safety, he concluded by handing over to a colleague to continue the debate.
Funding allocations and top-up request
The speaker noted that Cavan was allocated £19 million and Monaghan £18 million this year. He described those figures as an increase in objective terms but said inflation and a road signage programme in the Cavan allocation reduce the effective spend. He urged the minister to consider an early top-up allocation, saying such a facility exists and often occurs during the year but must happen early so work can get done.
Road condition in Cavan
He warned that the road structure in Cavan is beginning to break down again and described a developing problem that could return the area to earlier poor conditions. He stressed that significant progress has been made over a number of years and expressed anxiety about letting that progress reverse, asking the minister with rural affairs and road safety responsibilities to take this issue seriously.
Road safety and visibility
The speaker called for an education campaign focused on pedestrians and night-time visibility, specifically citing concerns about people wearing dark clothing when walking at night. He framed the campaign as part of the road safety brief the minister now holds and emphasised the importance of awareness alongside funding and repairs.
Opening remarks and handover
He opened by warmly welcoming and congratulating the minister on their proactive approach and energy in the new role, commending the skills brought to the position. After delivering his points on roads and road safety, he concluded by handing over to a colleague to continue the debate.
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Transcript
I want at the outset to welcome you to the Chamber Minister Buttermore in your new role to congratulate you on your elevation to that role and to commend the fact that you're so up and going at it so proactive and enthusiastic about it at the very outset and you bring the same skill set to that role that you brought to so many other roles in the past and you bring great talent to that to every role you adopt and energy which the two together is a great combination and I wish you well in it I just want to say Minister that you did reference the funding for the roads and while Cavan was allocated £19 million this year and Monaghan was allocated £18 and it does represent an increase in objective terms it represents an increase in last year but when you factor in inflation and in the Cavan case the fact that there's a whole programme for road signage to be taken out of that I would say to you Minister that we do need a new top-up allocation and such a facility exists and happens in many instances during the year but it would need to happen early on so the work could get done but can I make you aware and you have a rural affairs brief and a road safety brief Minister and I know you will take both seriously but can I tell you that the road structure in Cavan is breaking down again there is a problem developing there and we could be back to where we started we've made huge progress over the number of years and I'd be anxious Minister that we don't let that happen so you might take that into your considerations can I just say that we need an education campaign I want to give the minute now for in the area of dark clothing and all for people walking at night and that sort of thing on the roads there's so much to say about this but it's good to have you here Minister it's good we have the debate and I hand over if I can last year to my colleague for at least more than a minute very quickly thanks for it