Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2019
573. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if funding is being provided to allow for the completion of the Athy southern distributor road; and if the funding will be affected by the high cost overruns of the national broadband plan. [21556/19]
View answerFirstly I would like to explain that the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads (RLR) 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 as appropriate by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the local authority.
The Department is not aware of any plans to cut funding to roads in order to pay for the cost of implementing the National Broadband Plan. Accordingly the Department has no plans at present to postpone or delay projects which are due to be completed under the National Development Plan. On foot of that plan a programme timeframe was drawn up for various capital projects on regional/local roads. Athy Southern Distributor Road is currently at land acquisition stage. Under the programme for regional/local road projects it is envisaged that the main construction contract on Athy Southern Distributor Road will take place in the period from 2021 to 2023.
