Proposed works over the next two years in Kilkenny will be impacted, no doubt about that.
The warning was sounded at the Callan-Thomastown municipal district meeting last evening as elected representatives heard an update on various roads projects.
Fears were expressed that the rising costs of materials may jeopardise works which have been committed to, especially following a recent in-committee Corporate Policy Group (CPG) meeting which saw concerns raised regarding the local authority’s 2023 budget as a whole.
Director of Services Mary Mulholland told councillors that next Monday’s meeting of the full county council will be telling but she stressed that moves will be made to meet challenges; “Certainly there is an issue with cost inflation for capital programmes, all kinds of service delivery, and it’s something that will be very challenging to deal with in the 2023 budget but be sure of one thing that Kilkenny County Council is committed to meet its requirements for service delivery to the public of Kilkenny and that is what we will prioritise”.
She adds that keeping everybody informed is important; “I think people have an expectation especially when you have a three-year road works programme and it’s been well publicised that if there should be a need to make any changes to that, and it’s completely uncertain at the moment, I think key to the whole process is to make people aware of where changes happen, why they happen and what the impact’s going to be for people”.
