Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 February 2014
110. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has completed his review of the community involvement scheme and if a further allocation will be made for 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7620/14]
View answer787. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has completed his review of the community involvement scheme; if a further allocation will be made for 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7660/14]
View answer813. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has completed his review of the community involvement scheme; and whether a further allocation will be made for 2014. [7957/14]
View answer858. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has completed his review of the community involvement scheme; and if a further allocation will be made for 2014. [8388/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 110, 787, 813 and 858 together.
The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads (including footpaths) in its area, is a statutory function of each road authority in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act, 1993. Works on such roads are a matter for the relevant local authority to be funded from its 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.
My Department launched a pilot Community Involvement Scheme (CIS) in 2013 for works on regional and local roads. The scheme was aimed at works on local roads which would usually only be considered for funding towards the end of a Council’s road programme after more heavily trafficked routes had been dealt with. This is a voluntary scheme and is based on community contributions within the range of 20% to 50%.
I have allocated over €2.3 million to a number of local authorities in 2014 for previously committed CIS schemes. I will consider whether to allocate further funding once the review of the operation of the CIS in 2013 is completed shortly. From the local authority output returns collated to date the indications are that it has been very successful in most areas. A total of 299 schemes were completed in 2013 at an overall cost of approx. €8.7 million, of which, approx. €2.3 million came from local communities either by way of monetary contribution or the provision of materials, labour or machinery. This has resulted in over 173 kms of improved roads.
The reality is we do not have as much funding for road maintenance as we would like, particularly given the recent severe weather which has caused significant damage to our regional and local road network. It is in this context that consideration will be given to whether additional CIS grants are allocated in 2014 while taking into account the impact that CIS grants can make in making available monies go further.
