asked the Minister for Local Government if he has approved of the proposal of Kildare County Council to raise a loan for the construction of two public roads in County Kildare in the townlands of Killina, Allenwood and Ballyteigue, Cloncumber and Pluckerstown, and whether he is prepared to sanction the payment of a grant from State funds towards the construction of those roads.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Construction of Roads.
The proposal of the Kildare County Council to raise a loan for the construction of a new road at Ballyteigue is considered satisfactory in principle. A detailed estimate of cost of the proposal was not received in my Department until the 8th instant. It is now being examined.
The request for sanction to a loan to meet the cost of the construction of a road at Killinagh was not received until the 8th instant. This proposal is also being examined at present.
The grants from the Road Fund for the current year have already been notified. They are calculated to absorb the full amount which is available for distribution to local authorities and there are no funds from which further grants can now be allocated.
In view of the fact that the public in these areas who used the canal banks as public roads have been deprived of the use of these canal banks, does the Parliamentary Secretary not consider it essential that these public roads be constructed and, in the circumstances, will grants from central funds be made available?
As I informed the Deputy in my reply, there are no other moneys from which further grants can be made available. If the Kildare County Council had thought fit, at the beginning of the year when the grants were being made available, to devote them to these two roads, I am sure there would have been no objection.
Would it not be possible to arrange for making a grant available for these roads which could be deducted from the grants at a later period?
I do not think so. The Kildare County Council do not consider it necessary because their proposal is to construct these two roads by way of loan. They are perfectly agreeable to that.
The Kildare County Council made application for a grant and the application was refused by the Department. I raise the question again, having put the circumstances and the importance of the matter before the Parliamentary Secretary, and I ask him to reconsider it.
I have told the Deputy that the proposal to raise a loan in respect of the new road at Ballyteigue has been approved in principle. It is now only a question of examining the details of proposals submitted by the Kildare County Council.