Repairs to eat into roads' budget

Local road projects earmarked for later this year could have to be shelved due to the damage caused to routes during the recent cold spell - as evidenced by the number of potholes to be seen on roads around the county.While the damage caused to local roads is believed to be considerably less than during the cold spell at the beginning of 2010, Westmeath County Council spokesman Roibeárd Ó Ceallaigh acknowledged that any repairs that have to be done will present a financial “challenge” to the local authority.“There's been damage to the roads because the freezing and thawing in the roads. We are looking at the damage that has happened. It isn't as bad as last January where some roads literally disintegrated. Obviously we will have to tackle those repairs but they will come out of our maintainance budget.Unfortunately there isn't any special fund so this will impact on road repairs later on in the year.It all comes out of the same budget allocation and if we have to spend extra money at the start of the year it makes sense, unfortunately, that we will have less money to spend later on in the year.SEE PAPER JAN 15 EDITION FOR MORE