IN a common refrain for County Limerick, it was heard that “the roads budget is paltry compared to what they are getting in the city”.
So said Independent Ireland councillor for Adare Rathkeale, John O’Donoghue, at April’s monthly district meeting.
Cllr O’Donoghue pointed out to Council management that 50 per cent of Limerick’s population live in the county.
“You have the other 50 per cent in the Metro area, but we have way more roads, way more ongoing problems,” he said.
“I do understand that there are issues within the city, but what we are getting is paltry in comparison,” Cllr O’Donoghue claimed during a presentation on their schedule of works budget for 2026.
With a budget for works of €7.2million for the year ahead, councillors hit out that funding was unbalanced compared to city allocations. According to Cllr O’Donoghue, they have more of the same issues in West Limerick than they have with their roads in the city, but this was “not reflected” in their allocation.
“The road from Meanus, heading down towards Fedamore, is a regional road, and we can’t touch it. This is only one of the regional roads that we can’t touch because we have no budget. We’re not looking for anything extra, all we want is a small bit of equality,” he insisted.
Director of Adare-Rathkeale Municipal District, Vincent Murray, explained that the Council’s Director of Transportation, Patricia Liddy, is constantly raising this issue with the Department. It is also being raised across the country, he said, by all local authorities that they are generally underfunded for road maintenance.
“It’s been a particularly difficult winter and there’s potholes everywhere and roads are deteriorating, but their generally isn’t enough maintenance money to go round at the moment. Costs have risen significantly for carrying out maintenance works in the last four or five years, so it is a challenge,” Mr Murray commented.
Cllr O’Donoghue replied:Â “We can’t build housing because we don’t have the wastewater capability in most of our towns and villages. But we’re still trying to get our workforce into the city, kids to school, and we are Limerick City and County Council and we are not getting our fair share of that pot.”
Fianna Fáil councillor Bridie Collins supported Cllr O’Donoghue’s comments. As a case in point, she said that Limerick City gets €20m for active travel, while in the Adare-Rathkeale District they get €700,000.
“It’s nuts, when you look at it and you consider all the villages in our district where you can’t walk to the extremities of the village. I was at a protest in Ballyneety last night where they want a footpath up past the golf club, and I support that, but it just reiterates the lack of balance in funding.
“We don’t have footpaths at our schools and we’re grappling with €700,000 to make that work. Then you go into the city, and there’s miles and miles of active travel paths leading into the city centre and there’s nobody on them,” Cllr Collins concluded.