Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 March 2013
18. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is taking to ensure that funds for regional and local roads are targeted at essential work to the greatest extent possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15224/13]
View answer30. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will report on the recent allocation of funding for repair works on local and regional roads; his views on whether a particular percentage of funding should be ring-fenced by each local authority for annual road maintenance and upkeep in view of the state of many roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15041/13]
View answer53. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which he has received communications from the various local authorities throughout the country with reference to the ongoing need to meet road repair requirements following the winter weather damage to main and county road networks; if he is satisfied regarding the adequacy of the funding provisions to date to meet such requirements; the extent to which allocations made by his Department to date are in line with requirements; the extent to which specific improvement works including the elimination of potholes has so far taken place in 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15198/13]
View answer57. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way he will help to provide assistance for emergency road repairs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15268/13]
View answer66. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the steps he will take to aid local authorities to tackle serious road maintenance issues and to penalise and hold to account local authorities which do not work adequately to address these problems. [15057/13]
View answer315. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is taking to ensure that funds for regional and local roads are being targeted at essential maintenance work to the greatest extent possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15399/13]
View answer328. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which he has received communication from the various local authorities in respect of road improvement requirements; if he has been able to respond positively to such requests; the extent of the response; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15554/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 30, 53, 57, 66, 315 and 328 together.
These Questions relate to roads maintenance.
Firstly, under section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, statutory responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads rests very clearly with local authorities. It is also the case that any works on these roads are a matter for the relevant local authority to be funded from its own resources with supplementary funding provided through State road grants.
As the House will be aware, the amount of these State grants has been reducing in recent years. This reduction reflects the general cutbacks in other areas of economic activity where State funding is provided. This is a harsh economic reality. Conscious of this, my Department and the NRA, who administer the dispersal of funds on my behalf, have made every effort to ensure that grant aid is spent in a cost-effective and efficient way. This is being done in order to mitigate the effects of these reductions insofar as is possible.
Indeed in 2013, conscious of the effect the reductions were having on individual local authorities, I am allowing greater flexibility between grant headings to facilitate local authorities to address the more critical road repairs aggravated by severe weather over the last few years. I have made the point in this House that the emphasis should be to focus the available funding, be it local authority or State grants, on the upkeep and repair of the existing road network.
In determining the annual non-national road grant allocations, the overall objective is to resource each local authority in as fair and equitable a manner as is possible within the resources available and using the established methodology which is applied to all local authority areas.
I recently announced additional funding of €2.7 million under a road maintenance initiative for road drainage schemes. These additional grants, over and above the amounts announced by me in January last, were provided to assist local authorities with preventative drainage work. My decision to provide this exceptional assistance recognises the engineering imperative of good drainage to lessen the impact both of flooding and standing water on our road network. The launch of a pilot Community Involvement Scheme is another initiative designed to assist local authorities to get the best value from their grants, whilst allowing my Department to ensure value-for-money.
To assist Deputies I have placed the annual allocations for the past number of years for each local authority in the Dáil Library. These booklets break down the allocation of funds from my Department’s Exchequer allocation for roads grants to individual authorities and projects within each local authority’s administrative areas. I trust Deputies will consult these booklets, and see for themselves, the funding levels that are available to local authorities.
