Vol. 458 No. 8
109 Mr. Collins asked the Minister for the Environment if he is prepared to draw down community funds from the Trans-European Road Network Programme, due to be formally adopted in the coming weeks, regarding road upgrades for the Cork, Killarney, Tralee, Limerick route, the Waterford, Kilkenny, Dublin route and the Limerick, Tipperary, Cahir, Clonmel, Waterford route; and if he will give details of the programmes which are ready for immediate implementation. [17668/95]
The Operational Programme for Transport, 1994 to 1999, outlines an integrated transport strategy applicable, inter alia, to all forms of road investment, whether financed party by Community financial instruments or solely from national sources. It is Government policy to seek maximum Community assistance towards this investment from all available sources including the newly created TENS Financial Instrument. The Operational Programme sets out the road development programme in broad terms, focusing, in the case of national roads, on four key corridors; these were selected having regard to the proposed Trans European Networks, their importance in linking economic and population centres, ports and airports, and their contribution to the promotion of economic integration by improving access to the more remote and border areas. Within that overall framework, the allocation of grants to individual projects on the national road network is a matter for the National Roads Authority.
