Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 March 2022
62. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Transport the allocation from his Department to Transport Infrastructure Ireland for 2022 for new road development on national roads in 2022; the increase or decrease in this spend on the allocation for 2021; the reason for the change in spend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13451/22]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 and in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), the planning, design and construction of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. This is also subject to the Public Spending Code and the necessary statutory approvals.
Approximately €615 million of exchequer capital funds have been provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2022. Of this, €331m has been allocated to new National Road Capital Improvements, an increase of close to €30m on last year's allocation of €301m. The 2022 funding allocations are made having regard for the NDP, which balances investment in transport against other priorities of Government, such as housing and health, over the lifetime of the Plan. It was necessary to prioritise projects for funding in a manner which seeks to achieve key outcomes in line with the NDP and NPF. Resulting from this, while a large majority of the projects under the NDP were issued a funding allocation in 2022, TII were unable to provide an allocation for a small number of projects. The delivery programme for these projects will be kept under review for next year and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available to TII.
