An Ennis Councillor insists the local authority has no problem spending their roads budget, if the government notifies them of it on time.
Leo Varadkar has come under fire for warning county councils to start spending the money already allocated to them.
But it’s claimed Clare County Council is forced to plot its projects months before the budget is confirmed which leads to the final plan getting delayed.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar there on the lack of spending by local authorities on roads so far this year.
His comments came during a Dáil debate in which he admitted that roads are an issue in various parts of the country.
He defended the government’s record, pointing to the 417 million euro allocation for roads this year, which is an increase on the 2017 figure.
However, Tipperary Independent TD Michael Lowry hit back, saying local representatives are being hammered over the issue.
Here in Clare, the 23.5 million euro allocation for local and regional roads here this year, marks a significant increase of around 50 to 60 percent on last year but includes some projects already in the pipeline, including the Killaloe bypass.
The spend to date in this county is understood to have been minimal but the road works plan was only approved last month, with the funding only confirmed in January.
Ennis Independent Councillor James Breen isn’t happy with the Taoiseach’s comments.
He says they’re forced to plan at the end of each year without knowing what their budget will be for the year ahead – which is the reason why the final plans only got confirmed in March.
Clare County Council has also confirmed that it is to apply to seek additional funding following on from Storm Emma, part of which will be used on the roads.
