Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2011
630 Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the amount of public money that has been spent on drawing up plans for a bypass relief road for Claregalway, County Galway; the year in which work began on drawing up the plans; his views on same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31017/11]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects such as the N17 Claregalway Bypass is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter in the first instance for the NRA in accordance with Section 19 of the Roads Act. Noting the above position, in reference to national roads, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NRA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.
Regarding regional and local road expenditure to date on the Claregalway (Baile Chlair) inner relief road project, €71,852 was spent in 2009 under the RLR Strategic Road Grants Scheme towards the planning and design stage of this project. Galway County Council have been allocated €100,000 towards the design of this project in 2011. As the Deputy is aware, the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on these roads are funded from local authorities own resources and are supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of projects to be funded is also a matter for the local authority.
