Vol. 543 No. 2
557 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his Department has given instructions or taken action to address the issue of a large number of accident blackspots which exist on the various roads throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26971/01]
The 2000 non-national road grant allocations included provision for the first time of funding to enable low cost safety improvement works on non-national roads to be carried out by local authorities. This is an extension of a similar scheme which is in operation on national roads in conjunction with the National Roads Authority. In 2000 expenditure of £525,000 – 666,612 – enabled low cost safety improvement works to be carried out at 54 locations on non-national roads. I allocated £1,719,000 – 2,182,680 – under this grant category in 2001 and it is expected that by the end of this year improvements will be carried out at a further 147 locations. My Department sought applications under this category for 2002 from local authorities on 3 October 2001. The deadline for the receipt of applications is 23 November 2001. Allocations to local authorities under this and all other non-national road grant categories for 2002 will be announced early in 2002.
