The construction, improvement and maintenance of national roads is a matter for the National Roads Authority under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility only for the overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme element of Transport 21.
The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is a statutory function of each local authority in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act, 1993. Grant allocations to local authorities for are made on an annual basis. I will forward the Deputy details of the 2009 regional and local road grant payments for specific projects.
The 2010 regional and local road grant allocations are being finalised in my Department at present and I expect to announce the allocations by mid February. The amount of money provided in the 2010 Estimates for funding regional and local roads is €411.177 million and this year's allocation will be based on that amount.
I will forward details of the 2010 road grant allocations directly to the Deputy at that time.
Public Transport
Since 1st December 2009, the provision of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area is a matter which comes under the remit of the National Transport Authority (NTA).
In relation to 2010, over €600m in Exchequer funding has been provided for investment in public transport infrastructure. This investment will allow the completion of a number of projects including the Kildare route project, Navan phase 1 and Luas line B1. Work will also continue in 2010 on the rollout of the railway safety programme and the Luas line to City West.
Planning will also progress on a number of projects such as Metro North and DART Underground.
Aviation
Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport is due to finish construction in November 2010. This construction is funded entirely by the DAA. National Sustainable Travel Office
Capital projects associated with implementation of the SmarterTravel policy that are in the middle of construction are provision of a walking and cycling network in Carrigaline, Co Cork, routes from PassageWest to Rochestown, Co Cork and at Fisheries Field, Galway and routes linking Adamstown to Grand Canal, South Dublin and in Westport, Co Mayo.
In addition, further projects will be started in 2010. For example, schemes will be selected from competitions such as the Smarter Travel Demonstration Areas Fund and the Smarter Travel Demonstration Projects Fund. Details of these will be available on www.smartertravel.ie as progress is made.
