The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads in its area, is a statutory function of each road authority in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act, 1993. It is important to note that works on such roads are a matter for the relevant local authority to be funded from its own resources supplemented by State road grants.
Phase 2 of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road project was proposed by the local authority concerned, Clare County Council and supported by the Limerick Councils. The planning of the project, including route selection, is therefore a matter for Clare County Council in association with the Limerick Council. Grant funding was provided by my Department to facilitate the route selection phase of the project and the €140,000 allocated this year will bring this phase to a conclusion. My understanding is that this work is being undertaken to enable the Councils to take decisions on the preservation of a route corridor for the northern distribution as part of the long term future planning for the city.
Realistically, given the overall cost of the proposed project which is in the order of €120 million and the scarce resources available for investment in roads for the foreseeable future, this project is unlikely to progress any further than route selection for some time. If and when the local authority decides to proceed to construct this road, it will have to submit its plans to An Bord Pleanála for consideration. As part of this process, an Environmental Impact Statement would be required which would consider a wide range of issues, including matters such as flooding.
