TDs across the South East are united in their approach to the need for funding of two important road projects locally.
So says local Councillor Pat Dunphy who organised an online meeting with Dáil Deputies this morning to discuss the lack of monies to progress plans for the N24 and N25, both of which pass through South Kilkenny. (More on that here).
All five of Carlow Kilkenny constituency’s most senior politicians were represented as were the vast majority of those in the region.
Councillor Dunphy told KCLR news that their support in this is important; “The most significant thing coming out of it was that they were all on the one voice there, they all see the need, they’re all very much supportive that funding has to be reinstated and many gave quite a lot of reasons, most of the reasons we’ve been raising ourselves as councillors down here, at the end of the day they decided to try and seek a meeting with Minister Eamon Ryan, that’s where it’s at at the moment”.
He says having so many speaking with one voice is bound to have an impact; “Very surprised if a MInister didn’t listen or act on that type of representation I’d be very surprised and I don’t think it’d be good politics, it wouldn’t be right politics, you know, if there were varying opinions around the South East and all of that, but there wasn’t, everybody was very, very strong on the same issue, the same points and that’s quite a number of Oireachtas members”.
But the Mooncoin based Cllr warns time is ticking; “Not sure what the next step will be but I think as far as funding is concerned the next few weeks are crucial, if this goes on for a number of months I think that’s the end for this year, the time frame here and I think most of the Oireachtas agree that funding has to be put back before the end of February and that’s only a couple of weeks”.
Meanwhile, not everybody is for such road spending – more about that here
