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. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for each local authority.
Local authorities have been provided an additional €50 million in funding under the Restoration Improvement Scheme for County Councils and Block Grant for City Councils. Each county council has set out a 4 year multi-annual plan of prioritised works for completion. These plans have been set by the local engineers and approved by the elected members. The additional funding being provided will enable some works which were scheduled to take place in 2014 to be brought forward and completed this year. It is also open to local authorities to include roads which are now in urgent need of repair but were not on the original programme. While this additional allocation is to be directed primarily to surface restoration works, if the council considers that there are particular safety schemes that need to be progressed urgently some of the additional funding may be allocated to such schemes.
Insofar as is practical and prudent, I am happy to give local authorities discretion on their roads budget and that was what I sought to do in this instance. Local authority members are best placed to assess and prioritise where funding should be directed in their area.
