Rising cost of materials may limit scope of works on Cork roads, councillors told

Roadworks in Co Cork may be limited by the increasing costs of materials, labour, and fuel, the director of the networks has said.

Despite Cork County Council receiving a record €239m from the Government this year, inflation caused by higher transportation costs as a result of global strife will likely affect what can be achieved.

Padraig Barrett, the council’s director of roads and transportation, said suppliers have already warned the local authority of rises in the price of “stone, bitumen, tarmac, diesel” and various other materials essential for maintaining the network and constructing new roads.

Labour costs are also increasing for contractors to keep their employees. The rising price of fuel makes it costly for the council to run its vehicles.

“As of today, we are not yet impacted — but it is a concern [into the future],” Mr Barrett told councillors at a meeting of its northern division in Mallow.

Mr Barrett has welcomed the increase in Government funding this year, after many years when the county was getting far less than the national average per kilometre to maintain and upgrade its roads. 

Substandard roads 

The result was that many roads became substandard and a bigger “catch-up” was needed to repair them, it has been claimed repeatedly by councillors.

Meanwhile, Niall Healy, the divisional manager, said the council is seeking more money to upgrade the N72 and N73 national secondary roads, which run through North Cork.

The council is also looking for funding from the Department of Transport for outstanding projects on roads and bridges badly damaged by Storm Babet.

However, Mr Barrett had some good news for councillors representing the North Cork region. Plans for the route of the Mallow northern bypass (relief road) — which will connect the N72 and N73 Fermoy and Mitchelstown roads with the N20 close to Mallow General Hospital — are almost complete. 

Planning permission

They will be submitted for planning permission to An Coimisiún Pleanála by the end of the year.

Northern Division chairman Gearóid Murphy welcomed the timeframe for the planning application for the Mallow project.

“There are major traffic-congestion issues in Mallow, and we need to progress this [planning] as expeditiously as possible and bring life back to its town centre,” Mr Murphy, a Fianna Fáil councillor, said.

Fellow Fianna Fáil councillor Pat Hayes, who owns a business in the town, and Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden also welcomed the move, but asked that officials provide them with more regular briefings on the project in the future.