I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
This Bill is designed to supplement the income of the Road Fund to enable it to deal with two special road problems.
The first of these has arisen out of the recent closing of branch railway lines. As the House is aware, a number of these lines were found by the transport undertakings to be uneconomic; in fact, in the case of lines affected by the closing of lines in the Six Counties, it was impracticable to keep them in operation. The resultant extra bus and lorry traffic has created urgent problems in the areas affected. The roads concerned would ultimately be dealt with under the road improvement programmes of the counties concerned, but the existing level of their road grants and the other roads requiring attention would prevent them from dealing effectively with the problem in a reasonable time. It was decided therefore that special assistance should be given to these road authorities.
The second category of problem arose where a major industrial undertaking has created a considerable increase in road traffic and given rise to a need for major road improvements on a scale which the road authority would be unable to deal with on the basis of their existing grant allocations.
A review of the position of the Road Fund showed that it could not bear the extra grants involved. The effect of previous loans and of commitments in respect of past grants involves that the present scale of Road Fund grants, approximately £5 millions, is unlikely to increase substantially in the next five years, even if the income from motor taxation continues to increase gradually. It will be recalled that, following the Capital Fund appropriation of £500,000 in 1956/57 and the high level of grants maintained for a number of years, commitments on the Road Fund had amounted to £4.18 millions at the end of 1956/57, compared with £1.8 millions on 31st March, 1954. It was necessary to borrow £900,000 in 1957/58 to reduce these commitments and so enable the level of Road Fund grants—at about £5 millions—to be maintained. That exhausted the borrowing powers of the Road Fund, and while it cut down the commitments considerably, they are still at an abnormal level—£3¼ millions on 31st March last.
The Government therefore decided that the income of the Road Fund should be supplemented by special measures to enable it to assist the road authorities to deal with the two types of problem I have mentioned. The total supplement to the Fund will not exceed £2 millions, and this will be spread over a period of 5 years. Half of it will be a free grant to the Fund and half of it will be a repayable loan.
Two million pounds is a very considerable sum, and it should help the road authorities to deal with the more pressing road problems arising under the two heads I have mentioned, but I would be slow to say that they can all be solved out of these funds. For that reason grants must be strictly confined to cases which clearly come within the specified conditions. In the case of the railway lines, the closings must be recent ones, i.e., either in the last couple of years or currently. Similarly, the grants for public roads serving industrial undertakings must be confined to major undertakings and to acute road problems affecting them. In regard to both the railway lines and the industrial undertakings, there is the further criterion that the road problems involved must be so substantial that they cannot be dealt with under the road authority's normal grant allocations. In the light of what I have said, it will be seen that I have had no option but to reject, with regret, quite a number of applications for grants already.
I have allocated the following grants for 1959/60 to counties affected by recent and immediately prospective railway closings:—
£ |
|
Cavan County Council |
45,000 |
Donegal County Council |
75,000 |
Leitrim County Council |
40,000 |
Monaghan County Council |
45,000 |
Sligo County Council |
45,000 |
The total for 1959/60 is £250,000.
I have given these counties an assurance that consideration will be given to further grants in each of the next four years. The amounts of these grants will be determined having regard to the funds available.
In the following cases, councils have been advised that consideration will be given to grants for roads dealing with industrial development, and the councils have been asked to prepare estimates and plans for the work to enable me to determine the grants:—
County Council |
Road |
Serving |
Clare |
Shannon Airport to Limerick. |
The Airport and development in neighbourhood. |
Cork |
Midleton to Whitegate. |
The Oil Refinery. |
Leitrim and Roscommon. |
A number of county roads. |
Collieries. |
Monaghan |
A county road. |
A gypsum mine. |
Wicklow |
From Avoca to Arklow. |
The copper mine. |
Until estimates are received for these works, I shall not be in a position to say how much is involved and what the effect will be on the total funds available. The expenditure will in general be spread over a number of years.
I am sure the House will have no hesitation in accepting the principles of the Bill and giving it a Second Reading.