THE BIG FREEZE will cost Wicklow County Council over € 14 million as ice, snow and flood waters wreaked havoc on our local and regional roads.

At Monday's meeting of Wicklow County Council Director of Services for Roads, Sean Quirke, outlined the stark position Wicklow County Council now faces to repair the county's ravaged roads at a time when their finances are already stretched to the limit.

The engineering areas of Wicklow and Blessington will see repairs costing € 2,444,000 and € 2,199,900 respectively.

A further € 210,000 will be needed to carry out repairs to the N11 and the N81, he said while the abnormal winter maintenance including gritting the roads cost the council € 527,700. THE BIG FREEZE will cost Wicklow County Council over €14 million as ice, snow and flood waters wreaked havoc on our local and regional roads.

At Monday's meeting of Wicklow County Council Director of Services for Roads, Sean Quirke, outlined the stark position Wicklow County Council now face to repair the county's ravaged roads at a time when finances are stretched to the limit.

He said the total cost of the regional and local road repairs is €14,113,620 with the Arklow and Tinahely engineering areas most affected.

Road repairs in the Arklow engineering area will cost €4,493,720 and in the Tinahely engineering area they will cost €4,400,000. The engineering areas of Wicklow and Blessington will see repairs costing €2,444,000 and €2,199,900 respectively. The least affected area was the engineering area of Bray and Greystones where repairs will run to €576,000.

A further €210,000 will be needed to carry out repairs to the N11 and the N81, he said while the abnormal winter maintenance including gritting the roads cost the council €527,700. Mr. Quirke said that in the 2010 Budget €18,614,645 was allocated to the county's regional and local roads for the entire year. This was made up of an expected Government grant of € 11,798,767 and their own monies of €6,815,878.

The grant allocations for regional and local roads had not yet been determined but is expected within the next couple of weeks. However last year Wicklow County Council received a grant of €8,400,205 and it is unlikely they will receive the €12 million they are hoping for which will see them having to make up the balance themselves.

- Myles BUCHANAN