asked the Minister for Local Government if he will indicate the results of the comprehensive objective review of the roads grants system which he announced would be undertaken on 22nd June, 1960.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Review of Road Grants System.
66.
I have issued a statement to local rating and road authorities for their information in considering their estimates, that the rate of recoupment from the Road Fund for the maintenance of main roads is being increased from 40 per cent. to 50 per cent., partly to compensate these authorities for the termination of the Estate Duty Grant and partly to provide further assistance in respect of main road upkeep. The road authorities directly affected by this decision are the county councils, the county boroughs, the borough of Drogheda and Dún Laoghaire and the urban district of Dundalk.
Urban districts generally will receive 10 per cent. increase in the grants made available to them last year and will also be compensated out of the Road Fund for the loss of their shares in the Estate Duty Grant.
I hope to be in a position to announce the full details of next year's allocations shortly.
Will the local authority have to provide the same amount of money as they provided last year?
No. It is open to local authorities to save, by the amount of this ten per cent. less the Estate Duty Grant they would normally get, the contribution from the rates, if they so desire.
Could the Minister give us approximately the total of the Estate Duty Grant and the 10 per cent. over the whole country?
Approximately £120,000 on the Estate Duty Grant and somewhere between £200,000 and £300,000 in the other.
Would the Minister agree that the ten per cent. will not compensate for the increased expenditure by local authorities on roads because of the increased costs of wages and materials? In view of the fact that the Minister insists on the local authority finding the money before he will sanction such increases, will he take steps in this year's Budget to compensate them?
I have never suggested the ten per cent. increase is for the purpose of meeting additional costs. It represents an increase in grants for a job which has to be completed and which is now far from being completed, namely, the improving of our roads. Compensation for wage increases varies from county to county. So do the actual extra amounts granted to each county vary in relation to the grants we shall allocate. The latter part of the Deputy's supplementary about compensation is over my head.
I shall put down another question next week.