Meath County Council intends spending over €1.2 billion on capital investment projects over the next three years but some county councillors feel that the council should be blowing louder on its trumpet about what it has delivered in projects over the last six years. Finance officer Sheila Harkin described the investment programme as “very ambitious” but also essential for the long-term development of the county. The timing and phasing of projects may vary depending on planning and funding availability and other emerging needs and constraints.
Fianna Fail Cllr Sean Drew expressed the view that the council might be “missing a trick” in not giving enough prominence to the amount of money it spends on various projects throughout the county. There was a lot of criticism of local authorities and the councillors should be able to go out to people and say “this was delivered”. “Like we spent €1b from our capital programme over the past six years but if you ask most of the members of the public out there, they wouldn’t think it has been delivered. They might know something in their own specific area but in general across the county, they wouldn’t”. They should be “getting out there” and telling the public exactly what has been delivered.
Fine Gael Cllr Eugene Cassidy described the capital spend as “a colossal amount of money”. The council needed to be associated with the project that have been delivered “because eaten bread is soon forgotten”. As a council they were easily criticised and didn’t get the credit for what has been delivered. “People need to be told what is being delivered because this is a fantastic county”.
Independent Cllr Noel French said he was going to be “a little parochial”. He said the last capital investment plan had earmarked money for a playground in Rathmolyon and for regeneration but he could not see it in this present plan. Head of Finance Fiona Lawless told the councillor that the money for the playground project had come in under “parks and open space” so the money was “still there”.
Council official Martin Murray said that there was a lot going on that “really hasn’t got a physical manifestation of delivery” but it took years to get to some projects.
Independent Cllr Nick Killian said that the budget, overall, was “absolutely wonderful” but he was disappointed that there was “not a penny” for the N2-Rath Phase 3 rod project. That was not the council’s fault because there was a national aspect to it. “Last Friday evening the traffic was backed up from the Pillo Hotel to Kilmoon Cross with sheer volume of traffic. “Somebody needs to wake up and start realising that we have difficulties and it’s the same in the morning. This Government is prepared to spend money up the North of Ireland developing a road up there but we can’t even get the money for our roads down here”.
Independent Cllr Brian Fitzgerald said “It is really an ambitious project which will bring huge expectations from the public. We are depending nearly a billion on capital grants and we will also be dependent on levies of €77m. The expectations of people are being created when you see a programme like that. As day follows night there will be public demand and people will say ‘when are you doing this job, when I that job being done’”.
Independent Cllr Joe Bonner raised the issue of the N2 upgrade, saying that this project had been talked about for a long time. There were a lot of issues around this that needed to be sorted out and clarified. He welcomed the funding for the Ashbourne Community Park but added that the council needed to “start getting real” about that project. “There is no way in my opinion that we can provide 80 acres of the park at this point in time”. He also described as “a mistake” that some councillors had voted against social housing in Ashbourne last year. “As a result we could have had 67 or 69 families housed but that didn’t happen”.
Ms Lawless told councillors that the council was able to put a significant amount of money to capital from revenue – something they had never been able to do before. That was due to the increase in rates revenue but also a “significant enough bounce” from local property tax funds.
Independent Cllr David Gilroy said that a lot of the capital funding would be spent on what might reasonably be called “bread and butter issues” like public lighting, footpaths.
Fine Gael Cllr Maria Murphy said there were some road projects that needed to be brought to completion as soon as possible. “They are urgently needed given the level of traffic that we are experiencing in this part of the county. I have one question about the old school house in Dunboyne – could I ask what category that is coming into?”
Sinn Fein Cllr Helen Meyer said she also wanted to raise the Rath Cross issue again. A study was done there in 2020 and she wanted to see another study done at this stage. She said the road in that area was “just a car park” and everybody was screaming out saying ‘what are you going to do about it?’ “Is there something else we can do there to make life a little bit easier for the hundreds of people out there morning and night. Someone needs to rock on”.
