asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware of the state of county roads in County Donegal and his proposals to improve these roads.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Donegal Roads.
8.
I am aware of the condition of roads generally, including county roads, in County Donegal.
The State grant for roads allocated to Donegal County Council for 1985 amounted to £5,775,000. Because of the damage caused to roads in the county as a result of severe frost earlier this year, the grant has been increased to £6,425,000. This grant represents an increase of 16 per cent relative to 1984.
In addition, the local authority were allocated a grant of £750,000 for improvement works on regional roads under the European Development Fund for special Border area programmes.
Primary responsibility for the planning and execution of improvement works on county roads rests with the local authorities. The expenditure involved falls to be financed by the local authorities from their own resources which may be supplemented by the block grant for roads paid annually by the Department. The block grant may also be used, in the case of county councils, for the improvement, maintenance and management of non-national main roads, and for the implementation of traffic management measures. The disposition of the block grant, including the extent, if any, to which it is to be applied to improvement works on county roads, is a matter for each local authority.
Earlier this year, I announced that a grant of up to 75 per cent of the cost will be paid towards the cost of approved improvement works on the more important county road bridges, with a view to the preservation of the county road network.
Will the Minister agree that the main reason for the deterioration in the condition of county main roads is that grants paid to county councils in lieu of rates on agricultural land and domestic dwellings have not kept pace with inflation? Will the Minister agree that because of that county councils have less money each year in real terms to spend on county roads?
I agree with the Deputy and if farmers had paid the rates which were outstanding prior to the constitutional case, the county roads which are primarily used by them, and the large commercial trucks which service them, would not be in the state they are in.
I cannot accept that as far as my county is concerned.
The question refers to County Donegal.
The two counties are Ulster counties. Will the Minister agree that it is time the Department took into account the amount of heavy traffic using roads and related the grant paid out of the motor tax fund to that?
No, I would not. I suggest to the Deputy, and to other Members who represent other counties of which I have some knowledge, that if the arrears of rates from farmers due before the legal action initiated by the Wexford branch of the IFA were paid, very few local authorities would be in a position where they cannot undertake all the roads maintenance and improvements programmes they want to.
That would not be the case in regard to Donegal which has a low rate.
I should like to remind the Deputy that we have given Donegal more than £6 million plus £750,000 under the special Border area programmes. The Deputy intervened to deal with Ulster generally and I made the point that countrywide there are still arrears of rates due to local authorities and if paid in by those who owe it that money would go a long way towards improving the county roads system, a system that is being damaged in many cases by agricultural and agri-business traffic in the first instance.
I wanted to make the point that in counties such as Donegal or Mayo it would not make any material difference if they had that funding in the morning. It would be a very small amount.