Over €3m allocated for local roadworks

Just over €3million has been allocated for roadworks in 2026 around Rathfarnham, Templeogue, Firhouse and Bohernabreena.

However, councillors voiced their unhappiness over perceived imbalance between funding and the number of schemes for the two local electoral areas.

€3.045m was allocated for the Rathfarnham, Templeogue, Firhouse and Bohernabreena area out of a county wide budget of €10.35m for roadworks by South Dublin County Council.

€1.285m has been allocated for road resurfacing, with €1.06m for footpath repairs across the area, according to the 2026 Roadworks Programme presented at the area committee meeting on Tuesday, January 13.

€300,000 has been allocated for routine maintenance works, €200,000 for patching potholes and €100,000 respectively for cycle track maintenance and overhead costs such as plant hire and enabling works.

Following the presentation, councillors for the Firhouse/Bohernabreena local electoral area (LEA) questioned how the total funds were split between their area – which has been allocated €895,000 for just 16 resurfacing and footpath repair projects – and the Rathfarnham/Templeogue LEA, which received €1.45m for 42 resurfacing and footpath repair projects, as well as the entire €100,000 for cycle track maintenance.

“Five councillors here, seven councillors there, and we’re looking at nearly double, at 60% more funding in the Rathfarnham area than there is in the Firhouse/Bohernabreena area,” Cllr Emma Murphy (FF) said.

“It could be a bit more justified but there’s a marked difference between €1.55million and €895,000,” she added.

Cllr Sarah Barnes (FG) echoed Cllr Murphy’s disappointment in the “far lesser allocation”, noting that while there are probably more and “generally older” footpaths that need work in the Rathfarnham and Templeogue areas, it “doesn’t preclude really bad conditions in some of the paths in Knocklyon and Firhouse”.

Cllr Paddy Cosgrave (Lab) welcomed the funding for the Rathfarnham/Templeogue area, noting that it was “a very old area” and footpaths in the area around where he lives are “deteriorating”.

In response to the comments from councillors, SDCC’s senior engineer for road maintenance, Gary Walsh, stressed that the allocations were “needs based” and that the “60% breakdown is probably in line with the amount of footpaths” in the two LEAs.

“We have a much longer list of footpath repairs in the Rathfarnham/Templeogue area than we have in the Firhouse/Bohernabreena area and for that reason we need to allocate extra funding to it to try and stay on top of it,” he stated.

He invited Firhouse/Bohernabreena councillors to supply him with a list of places in the area that need repairs and they would be added to the list “for consideration”.

Mr Walsh noted that this year’s allocation for roadworks in Firhouse/Bohernabreena was actually increased from 2025, and that the area typically got more funding for measures such as hedge-cutting.

“It won’t be reflected in the roadworks programme but there’s discretionary funding that is often spent more in that area and that wouldn’t be accounted for in the figures here,” he added.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme