Mayo councillor rebrands roads scheme as ‘local improvement scam'

THE Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) for roads has been rebranded the 'local improvement scam' by a Westport councillor.

Councillor Christy Hyland made his comment in light of the fact that word has got out that councillors have money to do roads when the reality is very different.

The message out there, he said, is that members have thousands of euro for local roads.

However, out of the 12 requests he has received, he will be lucky to get one road done with the allocations given.

"I call this the local improvement scam," he told a municipal district meeting. There were councillors among them whose entire allocation under the LIS scheme would not be enough for works on one road.

Councillors, he stressed, do not have thousands of euro for doing LIS roads.

On his own requests, he suggested he might have to put them into a hat and have his colleague Councillor John O'Malley pull one out to be done.