Vol. 404 No. 7
68 Mr. Sheehan asked the Minister for the Environment if, in view of the important role that Castletownbere fishery port is to the fishing industry, he will take immediate steps towards providing sufficient funds in 1991 to enable Cork County Council to reconstruct all bridges on the main road from Glengarriff to Castletownbere.
As the road in question is a regional road, primary responsibility for the bridges on it rests with the local authority, Cork County Council. The cost of any works required falls to be financed from local resources supplemented by the discretionary grants provided by my Department for such roads. In the case of Cork County Council, those grants totalled £8.094 million in 1990 compared with £6.619 million in 1989. The determination of priorities in the expenditure of these grants is a matter for the local authority.
In addition to the payments referred to above, a sum of £895,000 was paid over the years 1986 to 1989, inclusive, to Cork County Council by way of special grants for works on the Glengarriff-Castletownbere road.
I will notify local authorities of their 1991 road grants shortly.
