McEntee calls for increased investment in road maintenance

A call for increased road maintenance in a bid to reduce deaths on the roads has been made by Deputy Shane McEntee, who warned that road conditions had deteriorated dramatically in recent months. 'It is essential to do whatever possible to try and reduce road deaths and road maintenance is an important element of this,' he said. 'Following the wettest summer and autumn in recent years, road conditions have deteriorated dramatically. 'Due to the weather, farm crops are still being rescued and, as we approach winter, many lives will be lost on our own roads if local authorities do not clean, maintain and repair all of the recent damage caused by the inclement weather and the increase of farming activity late in the year,' he warned. Deputy McEntee said that, having spent so much money on advertising road safety, the Government should fund local authorities who are under pressure financially to support this initiative. 'Thirty per cent of road deaths are due to bad road conditions and signage. With the number of road deaths at an all-time low for the first 11 months of the year, it would be a great tragedy to allow this to slip at this most critical time,' he continued. Deputy McEntee said that, traditionally, December and January were dangerous months to be on the road and now the current road conditions were creating a potentially lethal situation. 'Fine Gael"s policy of having an independent audit of all our roads and to hold local authorities responsible for those audits is the way forward. Only three per cent of our roads are audited annually, which are mainly dual-carriageway and national routes; it is Fine Gael policy that all roads be audited.'