Roads Maintenance Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 May 2013

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Questions (258)

Kevin Humphreys

Question:

258. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 265 of 22 May 2013 in which he indicated that the sections of national road that lie within the M50 C ring, namely, N1 to Whitehall, N2, N3, N4, N11 to Mount Merrion Avenue and N81 were reclassified from national to regional roads, the extra funding that has been provided to Dublin City Council for the maintenance and upkeep of these regional roads since responsibility was removed from the National Roads Authority. [26072/13]

Written answers

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport

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 those roads are funded from local authorities own resources supplemented by State road grants. I announced the 2013 regional and local road grant allocations on 25 January this year. A total of €350 million is being provided under the Regional and Local Roads Investment Programme this year.  From that allocation, Dublin City Council is being provided with an allocation of over €6.2 million.

The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded from these State grants is also a matter for the local authority and it will be necessary for the Council to prioritise the works to be undertaken on regional and local roads in its administrative area from within its existing budgets. It is also important to re-iterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement Councils like Dublin City Council in their spending in this area.