Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 22 Mar 1995

Vol. 142 No. 9

Adjournment Matters. - Cavan-Monaghan Roads Funding.

Mr. O'Brien

I welcome the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Howlin. Many figures have been bandied about in the last few weeks with regard to funding for roads in the Cavan-Monaghan area and, in particular, with regard to the INTERREG programme. However, everybody agrees that Monaghan and Cavan have the worst county and regional roads in the country. This is a particularly serious problem for an area that has such intensive farming in pigs, milk, mushrooms and poultry. County Monaghan also has a strong industrial base in furniture and food processing.

These counties also suffer the big disadvantage of having no rail link to transport the heavy goods necessary for such intensive production. As a consequence, the roads have to bear the brunt of the heavy traffic that is so much a feature of modern life.

Rainfall this year has been the heaviest in living memory — double the normal amount for the period. This has, in many cases, washed away the road surface. I have already mentioned that traffic is very heavy with the intensity of the industries in County Monaghan, scattered over all areas of the county. A figure which illustrates this point is that 6 per cent of the country's agricultural exports come from County Monaghan which has only 2 per cent of the country's land area.

No roads escape being used by heavy vehicles as every farmer is now visited by a bulk tanker, a meal truck or an articulated truck delivering fertilizer. In view of this, people were pleased at the indications that funds might be made available for the roads infrastructure under the INTERREG 2 programme and also under the Community Initiative intended to support the peace process. However, these moneys will serve no purpose if the State siphons off the allocations by reducing the national allocations to the roads in this county.

Counties Monaghan and Cavan need the full national allocation and additional funds from the sources mentioned. Additionality is the key. The Minister should clarify that INTERREG and peace process funds for county and regional roads will be additional to the normal national funding that could be expected under the national roads programme.

With the reduction of rates and the removal of rates from agricultural land and houses the amount of money the county council can provide for roads from its own resources is limited. For example, with limited local resources Monaghan County Council provides nearly £1 million towards its roads programme. The allocation for Monaghan and Cavan County Councils was severely reduced in the recent allocation of moneys for roads. Unless major extra funding is provided from INTERREG II and the peace process money, there is a danger that the total roads structure of both counties will fall apart. Both counties have an exceptional length of mileage of county roads and an exceptionally high density of heavy vehicles travel on them. Roads that were built for horses and carts are now trying to carry 40 foot articulated trucks with allowable gross weights of up to 40 tonnes. Obviously, the old roads will not serve the modern economy, of which we are very proud, in our county.

Thankfully, last August we saw the end of violence in Northern Ireland, which resulted in the welcome opening of many closed Border roads. Great hardship was experienced by many people when they were closed. The result of the opening of these roads has been an increase in cross-Border traffic of almost 20 per cent. Traffic routes are changing since these 40 or more bridges have been opened and many roads that were quiet in the past are now very busy. This is a great benefit to towns along the Border areas. Clones, for example, will benefit greatly from this increased business. However, these roads must be maintained to a reasonable standard. I call on the Minister to unequivocally state that major extra funding will be made available to allow us to embark on an ambitious upgrading programme of our roads network. It is also imperative that these moneys should be announced immediately to enable the works programme to be carried out by next spring or summer to avail of the good weather at that time.

As European borders, particularly that unnatural Border between ourselves and Northern Ireland, begin to disappear, it will be important for the southern Border counties that our infrastructure matches that of the North. We have a short time to make up the shortfall. I ask the Minister to clearly state that major progress will be made in this direction in 1995.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. Howlin)

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on this important issue. As Senators will be aware, the EU INTERREG II programme represents a significant new source of funding which will be available during this new year for our non-national roads. The traditional problems encountered by Border areas in promoting economic development due to distances from the main centres of economic activity are being addressed by this programme.

The 1992-93 INTERREG I programme, insofar as it related to roads, made a valuable contribution towards addressing the disadvantages experienced by Border areas. In fact, the financial provisions for road improvements in the qualifying counties amounted to £2.1 million in 1992 and £2.4 million in 1993. The INTERREG II programme will benefit not only roads along the land Border with Northern Ireland but also certain maritime areas, and substantially increased funding will be available as compared with INTERREG I.

In the case of the Border region, £6 million will be made available for non-national roads in 1995 alone. The EU Commission gave its approval recently to the draft framework programme under this heading which had been submitted to it and local authorities will be invited by my Department to nominate projects for consideration under this element of the programme in the near future. I sought to facilitate the councils concerned, including Cavan and Monaghan, in drawing up their proposals for funding under INTERREG II by including indicative allocations under this heading in the grants already notified to them. Payment of these grants is conditional on each council putting forward significant and sufficient qualifying projects so as to be in a position to expend its allocation in the current year.

In the case of the maritime element of INTERREG, £2 million will be available in 1995 under this heading for non-national roads. The project selection criteria will, it is understood, focus on projects making a contribution to strengthening linkages between Irish and Welsh ports. Insofar as the roads area is concerned, projects that improve access to these ports from certain counties will be eligible for assistance during the lifetime of the programme and the local authorities will be consulted in due course in this regard.

INTERREG II funding represents an important source of funding for non-national roads in the 1995-96 period and will facilitate further significant improvements in the network in the Border region, including, of course, Counties Cavan and Monaghan, and in qualifying counties under the maritime element of the programme. Every effort must be made to utilise these resources in the most beneficial way for the communities and regions concerned and my Department will rigorously examine proposals from local authorities for funding in this area with a view to ensuring this end.

I would now like to place the funding in 1995 under the INTERREG II programme in the broader context of the overall 1995 grant allocations for non-national roads. The fact that these allocations totalled almost £103 million is indicative of the Government's major commitment to non-national roads. While the provision is marginally less than last year's figure of £107 million, the resources provided in that year were significantly boosted by a once off allocation from the receipts of the tax amnesty, a point that was clearly and explicitly made by the then Minister for Finance. When this exceptional allocation of £15 million is excluded, the 1995 grants are up on the underlying 1994 provision by 12 per cent and by an even higher amount on the allocation for any previous year.

I would also point out that an element of the discretionary grant provision for county councils, amounting to £5 million in 1995, was reserved for the purpose of making supplementary allocations for road improvements to a number of councils in counties where the conditions of roads is particularly poor. These counties include Cavan and Monaghan. I determined the amount of the grant allocation to the councils concerned, having regard to the situation in each county. This practice is consistent with the approach adopted by my predecessors and represents an element of positive discrimination in favour of counties such as Cavan and Monaghan.

I hope the House will agree, therefore, that these counties have been treated in a very reasonable and satisfactory manner insofar as the 1995 allocations for non-national roads are concerned. Lest there be any doubt, however, about this matter, let me explain that while the grants for Cavan and Monaghan represent almost £2,400 for every mile of non-national road in these counties, the corresponding figure for all remaining county councils only comes to £1,600. This demonstrates beyond doubt that these counties have fared very well and any suggestion to the contrary simply ignores the facts. The particular problems, therefore, affecting the non-national road systems in Cavan and Monaghan have been fully taken into account by me in the grants I have allocated and they reflect this. I am confident that the House will fully support my actions in this regard.