‘Are we being made eejits of here?’ – €3m Wexford cycle lane outspends Rosslare road budget

"We have 640km to maintain in this district and we get €2.1m for road restoration, this enables us to restore 16km every year," he said. "Meanwhile the cycle track on the Newtown Road, which cost €3m, covers 1.3km. Are we being made eejits of here? The main road between Taghmon and Foulksmills is falling apart, alloys are being cracked on cars, but we can take solace in the €3m cycle lane that'll always be there to lift our spirits.

"I object in the strongest possible of way to that use of money. You cannot maintain the roads with the budget we're getting, it is simply impossible. We need more money for our roads and our TDs, some of whom are jumping up and down about the bicycle shed in Dublin, need to look at what's happening down here, the roads are literally falling asunder. It's a slap in the face for us that the excess of our annual budget is spent on a bike lane."

Cllr Codd was backed up by Cllr Aoife Rose O'Brien whose own car had suffered as a result of the roads in the district.

As the man responsible for making that €2.1m stretch every year, roads engineer Michael Brazzill said he was hopeful the RMD's roads budget would increase in 2025.

"It should increase because some of our roads are in an awful condition, we've quite a lot of roads which need attention and surface dressing won't cut it there, they need full restoration."

With Mr Brazzill pointing out that the cycle lane was funded under the active travel scheme rather than the central roads budget, Cllr Lisa McDonald noted that funding under active travel wasn't even available to those representing rural districts.

"Active travel isn't available to us, it should be, it shouldn't just relate to the towns," she said. "There has been more money given to cycle lanes than rural roads under this government, I don't think that's sustainable. As a district we should write to the transport spokespeople of each party and state our position in Rosslare, that we cannot reach on our roads due to lack of funding."