Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2018
564. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to a crossing point (details supplied) in County Kildare that is not fit for purpose; his plans to rectify the situation; if provision can be made for safe crossings for non-motor vehicle traffic and foot traffic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53058/18]
View answerThe improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of the relevant County or City Council, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from the Council's own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the Council.
Prior to the financial crisis, applications for funding for road improvement projects would have been considered as part of the Specific Improvement, and Strategic Regional and Local Road Grant Schemes. However, the extent of the cutbacks in grant funding during the crisis meant these grant schemes had to be curtailed after 2013 because expenditure on maintenance/renewal was falling well short of what was required to adequately maintain the regional and local road network.
The NDP does provide for the gradual build up in funding for the road network but it will take some years yet to reach the level required for the adequate maintenance and renewal of the network. For this reason there is limited scope at present for funding projects under the Specific and Strategic Grant Programmes.
Any projects proposed by local authorities for consideration under the Specific and Strategic Grant Programmes are assessed by the Department on a case-by-case basis. All projects put forward by local authorities for consideration must comply with the requirements of the Public Spending Code and my Department's Capital Appraisal Framework and it is important for local authorities to prioritise projects within their overall area of responsibility with these requirements in mind.
Under the capital project appraisal process a Preliminary Appraisal has to be submitted in relation to each proposed project. Once an appraisal is received it is assessed taking into account other competing projects and the overall roads budget. In this case, a Preliminary Appraisal has been received by my Department from Kildare County Council in relation to the Celbridge Relief Road and Second Liffey Crossing. This Preliminary Appraisal is currently under review.
An application in relation to this Scheme was also submitted under the NDP Urban Regeneration and Development Fund administered by my colleague Minister Murphy's Department and approval in principle has been given by that Department for the allocation of funding in 2019 for technical assistance for the advancement of the Scheme.
