Drimoleague is West Cork's ‘forgotten village'

By Kieran O’Mahony

DRIMOLEAGUE has been described by a councillor as ‘the forgotten village’ due to the state of the road going through it.

Cllr Paul Hayes (SF) was speaking at a recent meeting of the Western Committee in Clonakilty, where the issue of roads funding for Cork County Council was once again the topic of much debate.

‘In Drimoleague there’s seems to be a natural traffic calming mechanism in place, because there are so many potholes there and cars are being driven on the wrong side to avoid these potholes,’ said Cllr Hayes.

‘It’s the forgotten village and it’s very bad as you drive through it.

 ‘We need to put in a phased process of resurfacing at least. How did it get so bad?’ he wondered.

Cllr Hayes also pointed out that the biggest issue in relation to the roads was funding, but that people were also very agitated that the road tax they are paying in their county isn’t going into fixing their roads.

Cllr Hayes said he appreciated the cost of resurfacing the whole village would be expensive, but asked was there any chance it could it be done on a phased basis.

Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) also said the road in Drimoleague was in a ‘shocking state’ and said that all that was needed was €100,000 to do the whole street.

Tom Stritch, director of services with the Council, said that funds for the surface in Drimoleague would have to come out of the restoration programme, and could be expensive and possibly ‘at the expense of works on other roads’. 

He agreed with Cllr Hayes’ suggestion that the best option was probably doing the work in phases but that it needed more discussion at local level.

Cllr Carroll also highlighted the ‘shocking’ surface in Leap village and said it’s the one complaint that he is getting from people all the time.

Tom Stritch said that the Council is disappointed that Leap hasn’t been included on planned programme works for the N71.

‘The TII (formerly NRA) has an evidenced-based system to prioritise projects, which we are not privy to, and it seems where there are speed limits on the route, these projects aren’t prioritised,’ said Tom Stritch.