Members raised the following issues:

·       How are roads classified for inclusion in the winter maintenance/gritting schedule.  Councillors are being asked by members of the public for church yards and school yards to be done.  Roads like Cootehall Road with heavy traffic and link to N4 should be included.

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Leah Cull,

SECONDED by Cllr. Micheál Frain

And AGREED that a Grit bin/salt bin scheme be looked into for Roscommon County similar to scheme being run by Monaghan Co. Council.

Ø  Should be an item for SPC meeting.

Ø  Cllr Liam Callaghan stated that this is an issue for the Plenary meeting.  Budgetary implications, staff limits, etc. all impact on gritting programme.

Ø  New surface on N61 slippery –

Ø  Realignment of roads like Cootehall would relieve these problems

Ø  Insurance issue with grit bins – i.e. if a path is gritted today and not tomorrow there is a liability there and this could be an issue for members of the public who avail of the gritting bins for gritting roads and footpaths themselves.

Ø  2 major issues for Councillors every year – road gritting and potholes.  Can alternative solutions be looked at.  If it’s possible for Monaghan Co. Council, it should be possible for Roscommon.

Mr. Ivor Kilcline clarified that gritting is a county-wide issue.  DOT fund gritting of regional roads, TII fund national and secondary roads in the region.  If local roads were to be added, costs would have to be covered from RCC’s own resources.  Currently 8 trucks grit across the county on 3-hour call outs.

Routes will be updated when N5 by-pass is completed, and roads will be reclassified.

·       Farming Rathcroghan:  members raised concerns about the future of Farming Rathcroghan due to funding concerns.  Project was unsuccessful in its bid to secure EU Funding for the coming year and therefore project could only continue until March this year. The issue is that loss of funding means that the project office and its five staff members will cease to operate.  Members asked that funding could be made available that would allow the office to continue its operations until such time as an alternative funding stream was found for the project.

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Liam Callaghan

SECONDED by Cllr. Sean Moylan

And AGREED that Roscommon Co. Council would investigate alternative funding to keep the Farming Rathcroghan Office in operation until funding streams can be found.

Mr. Sean Mullarkey, stated that Farming Rathcroghan is an external organisation however, he was confident that it would be looked at favourably by main stakeholders.

Cllr. Callaghan informed members that TII are to attend the Plenary meeting in March and asked if roads could be added to the list, e.g. R370 as this road has a solid white line.

Mr. Ivor Kilcline stated that realignments are carried out under the Department of Transport, upkeep and maintenance of regional roads by Department of Transport and RCC.  No additional funding available for such works currently.

Cllr. Sean Moylan asked about Roads Programme and when it’s finalised.

Mr. Ivor Kilcline stated that the Roads Programme 2026 is as per that agreed informally by members at the December meeting and will be formally approved at the Boyle MD meeting in March.  90% of the funding requested will be allocated by DoT.  Should members of the public enquire about a particular road on the ReportIt system, they will be informed if the particular road is on the list.