Fianna Fáil has hit out at the Minister of State for Regional Economic Development over his decision not to provide funding for essential maintenance work to be carried out on rural roads.

TD for Cavan-Monaghan Niamh Smyth called for Minister Michael Ring to reverse his decision.

Deputy Smyth said: "The CLÁR and Local Improvement Scheme provided much needed funding for local communities to carry out repair an upgrade works on non-county roads. These are roads, mostly in rural areas, leading to people’s homes, many of which are badly damaged by potholes. Previous Governments used the CLÁR and LIS as a means of supplying money to the local authorities for these works.

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"Since these schemes were abolished by Fine Gael, county councils have been starved of resources and roads across Cavan and Monaghan are falling into disrepair. People are now being forced to drive on sub-standard roads to get to and from their houses. This is deeply unfair.

"Minister Ring’s statement that he does 'not envisage that the CLÁR programme will fund a similar scheme for improvements to local non-county roads in 2017' is very worrying."

(CD/MH)