Vol. 436 No. 4
25 Mr. Sheehan asked the Minister for the Environment the reason the county road leading from Glengarriff to Castletownbere, County Cork, is not classified for EC funding to upgrade its condition in view of the fact that Castletownbere is now designated as the major fishing port in Ireland.
In the four-year period 1989 to 1992, expenditure totalling about £2.3 million on the improvement of this non-national road has been confinanced by the EC at a rate of 50 per cent. It is intended to seek EC assistance in respect of further expenditure of about half a million pounds on the road in the current year. The initial expenditure was, for the most part, incurred by Cork County Council from the annual discretionary grants provided by my Department for the improvement of non-national roads.
Under the National Development Plan, it is proposed that grants totalling £475 million will be provided for the improvement of non-national roads in the period 1994 to 1999, including £235 million which is expected to qualify for assistance form the European Regional Development Fund. This confinanced expenditure will be specifically directed towards road improvements of importance to industry, tourism, fisheries, forestry and rural development. The local authorities will be responsible for the nomination of appropriate projects to be considered for selection. The level of funds for individual local authorities will be determined annually and will depend, inter alia, on the suitability and relative priority of projects put forward by each authority to absorb available funds.
