Vol. 466 No. 8
6 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for the Environment the proposals, if any, he has to provide increased levels of funding in respect of the repair and maintenance of regional and county roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12206/96]
State grants for non-national roads in 1996 amount to £146.86 million, which represents an increase of nearly 40 per cent on the base provision for 1995.
When the restoration programme for non-national roads was initiated last July, an additional £20 million was provided to fund it in 1995. That special provision has been repeated in 1996, and an additional £20 million has been added. The additional £40 million brings to £73 million the total grants available this year for works connected with the payment restoration programme. It is intended to maintain spending on the restoration programme at a high level in future years, in line with the commitment to complete the programme over a ten year period.
Will the Minister agree that a more substantial grant allocation is needed to repair the roads in counties Cavan and Monaghan which are in such a bad condition that people cannot gain access to their homes, farms and places of work? Following the cessation of violence in Northern Ireland cross-Border roads in counties Cavan and Monaghan were reopened, giving us additional road mileage in need of substantial repair. The commitments given to regenerate the Border economy and to put in place a proper infrastructure have not been honoured. Will the Minister give favourable consideration to making a supplementary allocation to Cavan County Council this year for its regional and county road works programme? Many roads in County Cavan are impassable and the council was not able to include these in its 1996 road works programme because the allocation from the Department was not adequate. Will the Minister give favourable consideration to my request?
The Deputy is getting rather specific in the context of the question.
It is worth pointing out to the Deputy the position in Cavan County Council as regards non-national road grant payments, excluding the LIS payments. For example, the 1987 figure of £1.366 million was increased to £5.947 million by 1996, which represents a major improvement. Under the 1995 restoration programme Cavan County Council improved or restored 39 kilometres of regional and local roads under 27 schemes. However, the following is the estimate for 1996: more than 300 kilometres of regional and local roads, involving almost 140 schemes, will be improved or restored using restoration programme grants of £3.209 million. Work will be carried out on 10 per cent of the Cavan non-national road network this year.
I appreciate the Deputy's view given the long history of road problems in County Cavan which were brought about as a result of a lack of investment by previous Governments. I do not think the Deputy can say that this Government is not living up to its obligations in this regard. The commitment made is realised in real funding terms. We have a ten year programme but at this stage we do not know the total national cost. Consultants have been employed to review the payment restoration programme and road works throughout the country.
I am aware of the problem in County Cavan and the Government has made a serious commitment to solving it. I can appreciate that this will never be enough from the point of view of a local Deputy, but even he should recognise that the Minister for the Environment has made a serious commitment to deal with the problem.
The 1982-87 Fine Gael-Labour Government did not give an allocation to Cavan County Council for non-national roads, and that is when the real deterioration set in. Fortunately, successive Fianna Fáil Ministers from 1987-94 gave substantial increases each year. The Exchequer allocation to Cavan County Council for 1996 for regional and county roads represents an increase of only 5 per cent on what was allocated by the former Fianna Fáil Minister for the Environment, Deputy Michael Smith, during a two year period when public expenditure rose by more than 10 per cent. We are not getting the level of increase we need. Will the Minister give an assurance that she will favourably consider the allocation of a supplementary estimate to Cavan County Council to carry out repairs to roads that are impassable and are causing severe hardship to many communities?
I give the Deputy full marks for representing his county, but he has to recognise the evidence. Additional works to those I mentioned will be carried out in 1996 by Cavan County Council using grants, other than restoration programme grants, together with its own resources.
Does the Minister agree that there will have to be increased funding for county and regional roads as a result of the additional mileage that has been put in place with the assistance of Cohesion and Structural Funding and which will require maintenance? Does she agree it is inevitable that the level of funding will need to be increased in order to maintain the roads? In effect, we have to run to stand still in terms of maintaining the road infrastructure.
The simple answer is that we cannot put a figure on the programme at this stage and that is why the study is being carried out. Obviously, local authorities have a good idea of their needs but to work out the requirement on a national basis requires a full study. While we may not have the final bill at the end of the day, the clear evidence is that we have increased the funding and the work is proceeding. The increase in the number of kilometres of road in County Cavan that will be improved this year represents a considerable improvement.
