Cllr. Michael Fitzgerald says that across the county, but particularly in mountainous areas, there are many roads in disrepair due to the Coillte’s vehicles and machinery.
He says that while Coillte will cover the costs of work when asked there should be a rolling funding scheme that supports this on an annual basis without request.
Cllr. Fitzgerald told Tipp FM that it is unfair on the people who live nearby, who shouldn’t have to fork out for the repairs through CIS or LIS.
“There is nothing set in stone and that is the problem because if they are not required or requested to come up and pay they won’t help in any way. There should be a system where they pay in where they use the road that they pay into a rolling system every year and that funding the is used then throughout he areas that Coillte are working in and are accessing their own property and their own timber works up on the mountains in particular.”
Cllr. Fitzgerald told Tipp FM that these roads were never built to accommodate the weight of such machinery and vehicles.
“The Council road section needs to sit down with the representatives of Coillte and talk the this out and have discussion on this whole matter because it is just not good enough to see the amount of damage that is being done and how hard it is to get these roads back in repair and back into a decent quality after the damage that these trucks are doing. I think they need to sit down and have a head to head with Coillte come to some agreement that would be satisfactory for these rural roads.”
