CORK County Council will need €100m to tackle national secondary roads across the county, including the neglected N71, a recent meeting has heard.

Council officials and public representatives met with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to impress upon them the neglected state of the county’s roads network.

West Cork councillors Alan Coleman (Ind) and Danny Collins (Ind Ire) were part of the delegation pleading for extra funding for the road network especially for the N71, which they said has been severely neglected.

Cllr Coleman said it is now embarrassing that some of the regional roads in West Cork are in a better state than the N71.

‘The road from Bandon to Gaggin on the N71 is shocking and we told them that,’ he said. ‘TII officials seem to be have been more receptive to our pleas.’

He welcomed recent funding to investigate the feasibility of a bypass in Innishannon and to progress the final section of the southern bypass in Bandon.

Cllr Danny Collins said he highlighted the state of the N71 route at Owenahincha, Aughdown, Church Cross, Sparagradda and Letterlickey which urgently needs resurfacing.

He also called for the progression of the Bantry bypass, which he said could be 20 or 30 years down the line as TII officials now want to complete the whole project together, rather than in sections.

‘I also mentioned the Caha Pass on the Cork side of the tunnel as well as Owenhincha Cross. My biggest plea was for the installation of passing bays along the N71 as it’s becoming impossible for traffic to overtake tractors or trucks,’ said Cllr Collins.

A council spokesperson said it was a ‘positive and constructive’ meeting and the timing of the meeting coincides with the preparation of budgets and work programmes for 2027.

Elsewhere the council confirmed at a meeting of the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District that it is set to recruit two additional road safety staff.

Officials said the issue is taken seriously and there is a process in place whenever a road traffic collision occurs on any of the county’s roads.

Cllr John Collins (Ind Ire) told the meeting that residents of Toureen in Ballinhassig were concerned about road safety along that stretch of the N71, adding: ‘There was a fatality there 12 months ago and there were two more accidents lately.’

Director of roads and transportation Padraig Barrett said: ‘We take our obligations under road safety very seriously. We have been lucky that the road fatalities are down, but it’s not good enough.

‘This year we have been approved to recruit two additional road safety staff… and they should be in place by September. They will look at accidents on local roads and national roads.’