Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 November 2013
723. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the discussions he has had in relation to the need to finalise the required funding to bring the Narrow Water Bridge project to construction stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49246/13]
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 each local authority. The Irish Government supported the original decision by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) to approve the allocation of EU funding to the Narrow Water bridge project and committed an upfront funding contribution of €3.9 million in January this year. The funding which was to be provided by my Department for the Narrow Water Bridge Project represented a significant commitment given the current financial circumstances. This funding contribution was due to be matched with a contribution from the Northern Ireland authorities in line with the agreed funding ratios for the Programme.
The Government was disappointed that the tender process resulted in a doubling of the initial costs budgeted for by the project partners for the construction of the bridge. The Government has indicated on many occasions that it would be willing to help to address the shortfall in funding for the Narrow Water Bridge, but this depends entirely on matching contributions from the other parties, including the Northern Ireland Executive. These commitments have not as yet been forthcoming.
As the Deputy will be aware, as part of the recovery programme that this Government has had to pursue to put the country back on its feet,unfortunately, there will be a further reduction in regional and local roads spending in 2014 of over €60 million. Ultimately it is from this budget that any additional funding from this State would have had to come and we would not have been in a position to provide a further €10 million towards this project as well as to underwrite any potential further overspend.
The progression and importance of this project has been discussed at the North South Ministerial Council on a number of occasions most recently on the 8th of November. In the Plenary Joint Communiqué issued subsequent to that meeting, it was stated that "Ministers remain supportive of the concept of the Narrow Water Bridge and have asked for an urgent analysis of the issues involved. They remain conscious that the priority is not to lose the EU funding involved."
It is important to note that there are time constraints with regard to the SEUPB funding, which has to be spent by 2015. SEUPB has now decided to withdraw the letter of offer. The SEUPB is now exploring options for the reallocation of this funding to eligible projects capable of being delivered by December 2015. While this development is unfortunate, this is a project that the Government would like to see delivered in the future and remains committed to. However, we simply do not have the scale of resources required to advance it at this stage when the priority must be on road maintenance and restoration as against new projects.
