Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 November 2013
510. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will sanction funding to Fingal County Council to enable it to complete the new link road near Moylaragh in Balbriggan which is ready to go to tender and urgently needed for road safety in the area. [47803/13]
View answerThe 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 the local authority.
In July last year local authorities were invited to submit applications for consideration for funding in 2013 under the Specific Improvement Grants Scheme. Fingal County Council applied for funding for five projects under this grant category but the link road referred to by the Deputy was not among the Council’s applications.
The Specific Improvement Grants Scheme is being discontinued from 2014 onward in order to maximise the funding available for repair and strengthening work. The small amount of funding available for major schemes will focus on projects already under construction or that the Department is already committed to.
The 2013 regional and local road grants have been fully allocated to local authorities and there are no funds at the disposal of my Department from which further grants could become available at this time.
It is also important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement Councils like Fingal County Council in their own resources spending in this area. It is open to the Council to fund this project from its own resources.
