No Road Joy for Fermanagh - Elliott
Ulster Unionist MLA, Tom Elliott, has voiced his concern that DRD Minister, Conor Murphy, has offered nothing new to Fermanagh with regards road infrastructure and finance.
In a statement Mr. Elliott said: “Following the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly most people in the West of the Province, and in particular Fermanagh, were hopeful that an injection of finance would be provided to improve the road infrastructure.
“Unfortunately this has not happened and following the visit of Minister Conor Murphy to the county and his meeting with council members it appears that Fermanagh is going to remain in the wilderness with respect to roads investment in the near future.
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone assemblyman continued by comparing the level of investment granted to towns in neighbouring Tyrone to that offered to Fermanagh in recent years.
Tom continued: “Looking to towns such as Strabane and Omagh where numerous bypasses and other considerable works have been permitted we can see a huge disparity in roads investment opening up. Fermanagh is in need of real and tangible strategic investment in roads if it is to be able to cope with the growing traffic pressures.
“This is particularly necessary for Enniskillen due to its central position in the county where the bottlenecks and restrictions to traffic flow are impeding tourism and business throughout the region.”
In conclusion Tom added: “After meeting with the Minister it is evident once more that the much fabled financial package did not amount to what we were led to believe, the future financial prosperity of Northern Ireland depends heavily on a modern road network, it will underpin much of the progress that we all recognise is required, yet what is on offer for Fermanagh falls short of the mark.”