Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig sees problems with Donegal County Council’s LIS (Local Improvement Scheme).

The operation of Donegal County Council’s LIS (Local Improvement Scheme) continues to raise important questions about how local government is organised. As with so much in the Council, central government is not releasing enough funds for the Council to operate the scheme properly.

It is estimated that it would take nearly 30 years to deal with all the applications under the LIS scheme. Simply put, there is supposed to be a fund for the upgrading of roads that do not belong to the Council but, because successive governments have refused to properly fund the scheme, this has meant that many non-county roads have deteriorated to a totally unacceptable level.

It was decided in the Glenties Municipal District that priority would be given to roads that were in a bad state of repair or if someone living on the road was ill.

However, it has come to the public’s attention that councillor Séamus Ó Domhnaill, the Chairman of the Donegal County Council, has had thousands of Euros spent upgrading his own road, even though I’m told that this newly built road wasn’t in a state of disrepair to a point that you could no longer drive on it, like many other roads that have applied for this funding. It has also been reported that other Councillors around the county, as well as councillors from the Glenties Municipal District, looked after their own family members first. It seems that you have more chance of having your road prioritised and getting work done on it if you are well acquainted or associated with a political party.

It has been brought up on the doors to me across Cloughaneely and other areas. It's clear the public has lost confidence in the way the system operates in the Council. Decisions on the allocation of funds should be made openly. The whole process needs to be more transparent. Doing behind closed doors meetings or workshops as they are known is not in the interests of the public. When a system is all about looking after the interests of your own political allies, that amounts to corruption and nothing more than a vote gathering exercise.

LIS Not Listening


Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig sees problems with Donegal County Council’s LIS (Local Improvement Scheme).

The operation of Donegal County Council’s LIS (Local Improvement Scheme) continues to raise important questions about how local government is organised. As with so much in the Council, central government is not releasing enough funds for the Council to operate the scheme properly.

It is estimated that it would take nearly 30 years to deal with all the applications under the LIS scheme. Simply put, there is supposed to be a fund for the upgrading of roads that do not belong to the Council but, because successive governments have refused to properly fund the scheme, this has meant that many non-county roads have deteriorated to a totally unacceptable level.

It was decided in the Glenties Municipal District that priority would be given to roads that were in a bad state of repair or if someone living on the road was ill.

However, it has come to the public’s attention that councillor Séamus Ó Domhnaill, the Chairman of the Donegal County Council, has had thousands of Euros spent upgrading his own road, even though I’m told that this newly built road wasn’t in a state of disrepair to a point that you could no longer drive on it, like many other roads that have applied for this funding. It has also been reported that other Councillors around the county, as well as councillors from the Glenties Municipal District, looked after their own family members first. It seems that you have more chance of having your road prioritised and getting work done on it if you are well acquainted or associated with a political party.

It has been brought up on the doors to me across Cloughaneely and other areas. It's clear the public has lost confidence in the way the system operates in the Council. Decisions on the allocation of funds should be made openly. The whole process needs to be more transparent. Doing behind closed doors meetings or workshops as they are known is not in the interests of the public. When a system is all about looking after the interests of your own political allies, that amounts to corruption and nothing more than a vote gathering exercise.

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