Vol. 407 No. 9
20 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for the Environment if he will outline the term fire brigade action attributed to him in relation to activities by local authorities in rectifying the problems of potholes; if he has any proposals to change the financing structure of expenditure on non-national roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I requested county and city engineers to take speedy action on potholes when I met them on 12 April last. As one would expect, the response was a very positive one and I was assured that such action would be taken as weather conditions improved and permitted. In particular the engineers agreed to carry out in the following weeks a crash programme to deal with the backlog of urgent repairs.
The cost of works on non-national roads falls to be financed from local authorities' own resources, complemented by discretionary grants from my Department. In 1989, I introduced a new discretionary grant mechanism involving both a block grant for improvement of regional and county roads, and also a block grant for maintenance of these roads.
This was the first time that State road grant assistance was made available for maintenance works on county roads. Prior to that, road grants could not be used for that purpose. There are no proposals to change the present arrangements.
Having been four years in office, will the Minister agree that the non-national roads have never been in worse condition? Will he also agree that he has no credibility on this issue and that if one adds the money paid by local authorities and State grants, in real terms less money is being provided now than before? Will the Minister consider establishing a proper road fund for non-national roads by allowing road tax receipts to be spent for this purpose in each local authority area? Does he accept that we are the joke of Europe in having competitions for the worst pothole and that he lacks any semblance of respect on this issue?
Somebody should put the record straight in regard to this nonsense about using road tax receipts for the maintenance of roads. Road tax receipts amount to——
£161 million last year.
——somewhere around £140 million or £150 million State spending, together with own-resource spending, will be close to £300 million this year.
Exclude the non-national roads.
If the Deputy is talking about just using road tax receipts as a means of looking after our roads——
Looking after non-national roads.
——then he is asking for the road allocations to be halved in relation to repairs.
That is not true.
In 1986, the year the Deputy continually refers to, £15.4 million was given by the then Government by way of block grant for the maintenance of these roads. County road strengthening in that year cost £5 million. This, together with the western package which has since vanished, made a total of £23 million in 1986. Recognising that their predecessors had left behind them a bad scene, the Fianna Fáil Government in 1987 and 1988 increased the total to £33.4 million. In 1989 it was increased to £47.4 million; in 1990, £66.88 million; and in 1991, £68.13 million. It was the first time in the history of this State that a three-year programme of maintenance on county roads was initiated and the figure was £150 million. Because we recognised that the party opposite had left such a mess behind them that was increased to £180 million.
The Minister has lacked any self-respect on this issue. The state of our roads is a national joke.
I know the truth of this matter hurts deeply.
The Minister has lost all credibility. The motorist is paying £3.5 million a day while the Minister is neglecting non-national roads.
