Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 November 2013
35. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to deal with increasing deterioration of the road network here in view of recent spending cuts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47187/13]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport I have responsibility for overall policy and funding for the national roads programme. The implementation of individual national road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. 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 amount of public funding available for the road network has reduced significantly over the last number of years and the reality of the situation is that the amount of money available does not match the work that needs to be done. In these circumstances the NRA and local authorities have to focus primarily on the maintenance and rehabilitation of roads.
It is worth noting however, that an additional €50 million under a mini-stimulus plan was provided to local authorities in June this year for works on regional and local roads and a further €50 million has been announced for next year. This funding next year means that the intended cut of €116 million under the roads capital budget for 2014, will now be a smaller adjustment of €66 million. This does, however, remain a very challenging reduction but every effort will be made to make the most out of the very limited resources.
