asked the Minister for the Environment if, in view of the serious condition of main and county roads in County Kildare, he will give permission for the reallocation of funds intended for the upkeep of national primary and national secondary roads to main and county roads.
Written Answers. - County Kildare Roads.
240.
Road authorities generally are precluded from transferring grants allocated in 1983 for the maintenance of national roads to the maintenance of main or county roads.
Exchequer assistance for improvement and maintenance works on main roads and for improvement works on county roads is provided by way of the block grant, which supplements the provisions for such works made by road authorities from their own resources. The disposition of this grant is a matter for the authority.
While the Exchequer does not contribute directly to the costs of maintenance of main and county roads, it influences to a large degree the level of the annual programme of works through the agricultural grant and the domestic rate relief grant. The extra £31.5 million provided for these grants compared with the provision made by the previous administration as recently as last November will certainly improve the state of local finances and allow them a much wider range of discretionary expenditure. I am confident they will direct a fair share of this new finance to much needed maintenance work on main and county roads and in doing so maintain local employment.