Near €3m overspend on road projects in last 18 months

Eight of the ten capital road projects whose accounts were approved by Cork City Council in the last 18 months came in over budget, with a total overspend across the ten projects of €2,960,069.28.

The figures were provided to Cllr Kenneth Collins at the latest full meeting of Cork City Council on Monday 12 October by Director of Services for Infrastructure Development Gerry O'Beirne.

Seven of the projects were funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA), two were funded by the Department of Transport, and one was funded jointly by the Department of Transport and Allianz Insurance Company.

The largest overspend was on the Mahon Active Travel and Public Realm project, where the final account came in at €1,222,124 over the original tender.

This was followed by the Glanmire to City Centre Cycle Route (Phase 1) at €790,828, and the Donnybrook Hill Pedestrian Improvement Scheme at €350,458 over budget.

Only two of the projects - the Innishmore Ballincollig Active Travel Scheme, and the Parnell Bridge - came in either on or under budget, at €4,376 and €0 respectively.

There was also overspend on two roads contracts in 2024 and 2025.

The 2025 Traffic Routes Resurfacing contract saw an overspend of €3,582, while the 2025 Traffic Calming contract - which covered 2024 and 2025 - had an overspend of €9,440. Mr O'Beirne said that the latter overspend was due to an upgrade in drainage infrastructure around tabletop ramps.

However, the 2025 Road Estate Resurfacing contract came in under budget by €373,171, due to the "suspension of certain works on request from Uisce Éireann", said O'Beirne.

Cllr Collins said that the overspend was unacceptable, and called for full accountability from the council. He said that the funding provided was public money and deserved respect.

"There are potholes, broken footpaths and dangerous junctions right across Cork city. Imagine the difference this €3 million in additional funding could have made for so many communities.

"I want the council to now brief councillors on what the process is for these budget overruns and regularly update us on spending. Some of this funding was voted for by councillors, we are currently looking at next year's budget.

"It is not acceptable that we were not proactively told about these overspends and we still wouldn't know about them if I hadn't asked this question," he said.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.