Galway Bay FM Newsroom - A County Councillor is urging Galway's TDs to "do their jobs" and secure badly-needed funding for the countys road network.
The call was made by Councillor Declan Geraghty at this week's meeting of the Ballinasloe Municipal District, where the poor state of the local road network was discussed.
The meeting heard that the non-national road network in the Ballinasloe area stretches over 1,500km.
However, the road restoration programme for the next 3 years only has the budget to cover a tiny fraction of that figure.
Roads are chosen based on a combination of surface condition and traffic volumes.
Councillors this week noted that due to a lack of funding, there are many roads in a terrible state that aren't included in the 3 year programme.
It's a problem replicated in every district in the county, and it's long been argued by councillors and TDs that Galway County Council is chronically underfunded.
Councillors this week were keen to stress that local authority engineers and workers are doing the best they possibly can with completely inadequate funding.
Councillor Declan Geraghty suggested some of Galway's TDs should spend more time trying to secure extra funding from Government instead of claiming credit for local things they have nothing to do with.
He asked that they "stop acting the blaggard" and start doing some real work - and leave the work of councillor's to the councillors themselves.
Councillor Dermot Connolly agreed the state of the roads in the region is an embarrassment - and said he found better roads in Africa during his time there.
It was acknowledged by council officials that while road funding has improved in recent years, it's not enough and has never been enough.
