Councils bear much of the responsibility for road maintenance in the Republic and most are genuinely strapped for cash, but that need not complicate the comparison. Central Government has a supplementary grant for road maintenance, totalling €1.5 billion to councils this year, up 13 per cent from last year. Photograph: PAThis contrast is best studied by public choice theory, a mainstream field of economics since the 1960s that sadly remains little known beyond academia. Public choice theory has been used many times by academics and think tanks to explain road maintenance failures. Public choice theory says this problem cannot be solved by replacing people or restructuring institutions.

Source: The Irish Times March 05, 2026 07:31 UTC