asked the Minister for Local Government if he is satisfied with the present arrangement whereby local authorities are notified of road grants in April; if he considers that this gives county engineers reasonable time to plan their programme for the year; if he is aware that local authorities in Northern Ireland are advised of their grant allocations in January of each year; and if he will consider changing the present arrangement in favour of notifying local authorities in the month of January.
Written Answers. - Road Grants.
98.
There are no standing arrangements whereby local authorities are notified of road fund grants in April each year; the practice is to notify the allocations at the earliest possible date.
Local authorities are aware that it is desirable to have a pool of planned works out of which to select a programme of works to absorb available finance.
It is desirable that the grants should be notified as early as possible and that will continue to be my objective subject however to the necessity for my Department to be in possession of all the necessary information, including a reliable estimate of Road Fund income, before a scheme of grants can be decided on and notified to local authorities.
I am not aware of the circumstances which determine the procedures followed in Northern Ireland but such information as is available suggests that the grant allocation systems there and in the 26 Counties are not strictly comparable.