The Government has been accused of "dragging its heels" over the approval of flood relief programmes.

Fianna Fáil TD for Mayo Dara Calleary said out of the four projects which were lodged by Mayo County Council with the Office of Public Works (OPW) since the beginning of this year, only one has been approved to date.

New information released to Deputy Calleary through Parliamentary Questions also revealed that €5 million has been allocated for road repairs and upgrades, despite Mayo County Council submitting a request to the Department of Transport of over €7.3m.

-- Advertisement --

Deputy Calleary said: "At the height of the winter storms and subsequent flooding Government Ministers and TDs were promising that the issue was a priority and that they would ensure that funding would be made available to compensate those affected and to begin flood defence programmes to prevent future episodes. Almost three months later and it is now obvious that flooding has fallen off the agenda.

"Roads across the county have been seriously damaged by the flood waters which savaged the west coast in November, December and January. Many remain in a treacherous state and certain roads are simply impassable such is their condition. Despite Mayo County Council submitting an application to the Department for €7,383,851 to fund essential repairs for regional and local roads, only €5,000,000 has been allocated to date. This is well below what is needed to bring these roads up to scratch."

(CD/LM)