Vol. 384 No. 9
asked the Minister for the Environment if his attention has been drawn to the fact that county roads in County Cavan have deteriorated to such an extent that many roads are unusable; and if he will make further finance available to enable Cavan County Council to repair same.
17.
asked the Minister for the Environment in view of the very bad condition of the county roads in the Cork area, if he will make adequate funds available for the proper maintenance of these roads.
26.
asked the Minister for the Environment if, as a matter of urgency, he will make a further cash allocation to Cavan County Council to enable them to restore the regional and county roads which are by and large impassable for the traffic for which they are expected to cater.
I am taking Questions Nos. 13, 17, and 26 together.
Responsibility for the networks of non-national main and county roads rests with the local authorities. Under existing arrangements, the cost of works on these roads falls to be financed by a combination of local resources and State road grants, including the block grant, the county road strengthening grant and special improvement grants.
The extent to which local resources are used for road works is a matter for determination by the local authority. Because of my concern about the condition of county roads, the provision for the county road strengthening grant for 1987 was £15 million, compared with £5 million in 1986. A further £15 million has been provided for 1988 and I have allocated £19.5 million for county road strengthening in 1989. This grant may also be used, at the discretion of local authorities, for strengthening works on non-national main roads. I have also decided to allocate £500,000 next year for improvement works on access roads to forests.
On 25 October 1988 the block grant and county road strengthening grant allocations for 1989 were notified to local authorities. The 1989 block grants are the same as for 1988 and amount to £0.522 million and £1.890 million for Cavan County Council and Cork County Council respectively. The 1989 county road strengthening grant allocations for Cavan County Council and Cork County Council are £0.625 million and £2.650 million, respectively. The allocations under this heading for 1988 are £0.480 million and £2.040 million respectively.
